Eyes of the Dead
by The Silent Scream
Summary: Right after returning from their more or less relaxing holiday, Willow and her demon find themselves in the middle of yet another possibly disastrous situation, with an unknonw foe targeting the witches at campus - and the redhead maybe on top of their list. Willow/OC est. relationship, rating for violence and foul-mouthed demons.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: I don't even know anymore what to write in these. xD Yup, another one. I hope you'll enjoy. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, please don't sue me. :D

* * *

Eyes of the Dead

Even though she had greatly enjoyed herself during the peaceful time of their holiday in Maine, Willow felt relieved when the „Welcome to Sunnydale" sign appeared on the distance after two long days on the road; even though they had made several stops during the trip, mostly so Pat could satisfy her need for nicotine, her whole body felt sore after sitting in the car for so long, making her wonder if all the relaxation she had gained during the holiday was gone again now.

"Am I glad to be back", she thus told her girlfriend, not surprised when she received a nod in reply – infested with demons and vampires or not, Sunnydale was still their home, and the place where all their friends lived, friends they sorely had missed, especially when they had been stuck in a supermarket with monsters outside, just waiting for them to come outside so they could eat them.

"And I'm glad to get out of that car", Pat now told her, keeping her gaze focused on the road, not wanting to crash the car so close to their home, "I think my ass has been moulded to the shape of the seat by now."

"Same here", Willow grimaced, looking out the window and at the town outside as it passed them by, asking herself if they had missed anything drastic during the two weeks they had been gone.

"I wonder what was going on here while we were gone", she voiced those thoughts, looking at her partner again and smiling slightly when the demon shrugged, her response making the witch's smile widen. "Nothing all too drastic I imagine, seeing that the town still stands. Bet we were the ones stuck with monsters in the mist and Buffy had an awesome time just slaying regular weak vampires."

"I hope so", Willow agreed, shifting on the seat in a vain attempt to get into a more comfortable position, "I'd feel bad if something horrible would've happened while we've been gone and we weren't here to help."

"Well, we helped a bunch of random people caught in a supermarket, that should make up for any trouble we missed here", Pat reminded her of the not so peaceful start of their holiday, making her nod again; moments later, a wide smile formed on her face as she saw the apartment building where she lived with the demon appear in the distance, her heart suddenly beating faster with excitement.

Next to her, Pat obviously had similar feelings, since she stepped down on the gas pedal, ignoring the speed limit; for a moment, the redhead felt like reprimanding her, then decided against it – after all, the streets were empty, and during the drive back from Maine, Pat had been surprisingly reasonable, keeping her need to driver faster than necessary under control. Just a few minutes later, she found a parking lot in front of the building, to the relief of both Willow and her close to the front door; as always when it was time to park the car between two other vehicles, the demon got out and let her girlfriend take the driver's seat, not wanting to risk damaging any other car thanks to her lack of depth deception.

"You know", Willow stated once she had parked the car successfully and had gotten out of it as well, "sometimes I wonder why you don't mind driving, but always let me park."

"Because I can keep a safe distance to other cars so there won't be any problems", Pat told her, "but when parking like that, that's not exactly possible and I don't want to risk Giles' wrath by ruining the fender or something."

"Good point", Willow had to admit, stepping closer to the taller woman afterwards and demanding a kiss, a demand the demon gladly fulfilled; once they had pulled apart again, Pat made her way to the trunk and opened it, then removed their suitcases, taking a step back afterwards so Willow could close the trunk's lid again.

Taking the lead afterwards, the redhead made her way to the building's entrance with her girlfriend in tow; it didn't take long until the elevator had brought them to the second floor, and another minute later, they were back inside their apartment, Pat dropping the suitcases where she stood in the hallway, shrugging at the scolding look this brought her from her girlfriend and letting her know that they could unpack later.

"Now, I just wanna sit down on our comfortable couch so my butt can return to the shape it's supposed to have", she added, already making her way to the living room; after a moment, Willow followed her, only to stop next to the small table on which the phone stood, frowning when she saw the blinking light of the answering machine, informing them that a message was waiting for them.

Curiously, she pushed the button which would play the message, both Pat and her raising an eyebrow in perfect unison when, after the machine's announcement that one new message was waiting for them and the information about at which time it had been left, Buffy's voice came from the speaker, sounding quite stressed, making them both wonder if they had missed something important after all.

"Hey you two", the Slayer's message began, her voice sounding strained as if she was giving her best to sound calm, but failed miserably, "I know you probably just walked in through the door when you listen to that and all you want to do is get some rest, but call me as soon as you get home, okay? Thanks. Bye!"

An audible click showed that this had been the only message which had been left for them; not able to withstand her curiousness, Willow picked up the phone and dialled her best friend's number while Pat lit up a cigarette next to her, having to admit that she was quite curious about this as well. Noticing this, the redhead leaned closer to her so she'd be able to hear what the Slayer had to say, briefly asking herself why they still hadn't bought a phone with a loudspeaker; then, Buffy took the call, the relief in her voice when Willow greeted her touching and worrying the witch at the same time, her mind beginning to race as she tried to figure out what might be going on to make Buffy so anxious about her call.

"Thank God you're back", the blonde now sighed, "I know it sucks that I have to bug you right after you returned from your holidays, but we really need to meet, all of us I mean… As fast as possible."

"What's going on?" Willow demanded to know in reply, the Slayer's answer making both Pat and her raise an eyebrow again before they exchanged another worried look, not liking the way the blonde wasn't really giving them a proper answer.

"That'd take too long over the phone", Buffy said, "I was planning to call all of the others for a meeting at Giles' place at three, then we'll explain everything, is that okay?"

"Um, okay", Willow agreed after a moment, giving her partner another concerned look, "see you at Giles' then, I guess…?"

"Yes", Buffy gave back, "and take care until then, okay?"

"Okay", the redhead shrugged, then said goodbye and hung up before she turned to look at her partner, her voice full of worry when she spoke up. "I fear something big's going on. Buffy sounded really weird."

"Indeed, I heard", the demon agreed, "but for now, all we can do is wait until we meet them. I wonder why she asked us to take care though, I mean, we just came back home, what does she think we'll do now? Go out vampire hunting?"

"No idea", Willow shrugged, "but I hope you're not planning to do just that, because I'd prefer some relaxing until we have to go and meet the others."

"Totally agreeing here", Pat reassured her, then finally made her way over to the couch with the witch; there, they made themselves comfortable, the redhead snuggling up to her partner, just enjoying it to be so close to her and the peaceful atmosphere they had back here at their home.

* * *

A few hours later, the couple arrived at Giles' house, to their relief seeing that they weren't the last ones to do so; Buffy was already there, along with Dawn and of course Giles himself, but Xander and Anya were still missing, the Slayer grumbling about how they were unpunctual while Giles offered the witch and the demon a drink, then asked how their holiday had been.

"Exciting", Willow was the one to answer that, raising her voice a bit so the Brit could hear her in the kitchen and making Buffy give her a curious look; smirking, Pat leaned back into her seat, running one hand through her hair before she took over from her girlfriend. "Let's say that Xander's not the only demon magnet around, it seems. On the second day of our days off, the army managed to open a portal to some sort of hell place, a nasty thick mist came out and with it, a bunch of monsters. We got stuck in the supermarket."

"Along with a religious fundie who then went crazy", Willow helpfully added, "and decided I'd make a good sacrifice to calm down the angry God she believed in, so Pat demoned out and made one of her followers wet his pants."

"You demoned out in front of a bunch of random, regular people?" Giles demanded to know, sounding slightly upset; clearly not all too bothered by his reaction, Pat just shrugged, then nodded, raising both hands when the Brit gave her a disbelieving look.

"Hey, it's not like I had much of a choice", she defended herself, "that crazy lady had a knife to Willow's throat and wanted to kill her, and I was injured. So…"

"When we came back to the supermarket after it all was over, no one said anything", Willow tried to calm Giles down, smiling at him, "so they probably all did that repression thing the people here are so good at, too. Also, I guess the army made sure no one will say anything about what happened, it was their fault after all."

"Let's just hope this won't have any unpleasant consequences", Giles sighed after a moment while Buffy shook her head, then smirked at her friends, a hint of teasing in her voice when she spoke up. "Tell me again why you wanted to go on holidays? I believe there was talk about getting away from all the monsters and stuff here."

"Yeah, that was the initial plan", Pat sighed, "but that didn't work out so well. At least for the first three days, the rest was okay."

"Well, that's something", Buffy smirked, the door behind her opening before she could add anything else, revealing Xander to the rest of the group, the young man apologizing for being late.

"Where's Anya?" Buffy wanted to know, making her friend shrug before he explained that she'd had decided to stay at the magic shop; grimacing, the Slayer reminded him of the fact that this had been supposed to be a meeting with the whole team, making him shrug helplessly again – before he hurried to where Willow and Pat were sitting, smiling brightly at the couple.

"And you two are back!" he cried out, bending down to hug them both, the witch being the first one who got pulled into the embrace, "we really missed you here, guys. How was your time off?"

"Exciting", Willow repeated, "but I'll tell you later, now that we are all here, Buffy should tell us what's going on."

"Well", the blonde started while Xander sat down and beamed at his childhood friend again, "Xander, Dawn and Giles already know, it started a few days ago… Remember that Wicca group you were part of for a short time?"

"Yeah, all the blessed-wanna-bes", Willow gave back, raising an eyebrow, "what about them?"

"Someone's targeting them, it seems", Giles answered her, "when the first girl of them vanished, we thought it was just a vampire, but now, three of them are gone and their… leader, or founder, came to Buffy and asked for help."

"Apparently, my reputation from High School also reached the college by now", Buffy added, "because she said something about how I always seem to be around when such stuff happens. We don't know yet what stuff exactly that is, but it surely can't be something good."

"Most likely not", Willow agreed, sounding worried, prompting Pat to grasp her hand before the demon looked at Buffy, immediately going on with the business at hand. "What did she tell you? Anything useful?"

"Not really", the Slayer sighed, "the only connection these girls had, according to her, was the group, they didn't share any classes or anything… Giles already looked into demons who might be after witches, but there are too many to narrow it down without any knowledge, not to mention all the rituals which need the blood of a witch to work."

"Well, if whoever is responsible for this keeps snatching those girls, he won't get what he wants", Willow muttered, making her girlfriend look at her curiously and prompting her to add an explanation. "Maybe that changed, but the reason why I left that group was because they weren't real witches. All they did was talk about their scented candles and bake sales."

"I see why you're worried then", Pat told Buffy, making the redhead raise an eyebrow – before she realized what her partner meant and gulped, shaking her head when the blonde asked her if she knew of any other real witches in Sunnydale.

"The only other one I know of was Amy", she then told her best friend, "and, well, we know what happened to her. So that leaves just me…"

"Which is why we wanted you to come here as fast as possible", Giles let her know, "because once the one responsible for this will realize that there is just one true witch here, he'll be after you."

"So what can we do?" Pat demanded to know, giving the Watcher an impatient look. "I don't like the thought of just sitting around and waiting for someone to come after my girlfriend. Not to mention the fact that all those other girls are probably in danger as well if whoever is snatching them isn't all too smart and needs a while to figure out that none of them are real witches."

"First, we need to find out who is targeting the group", Buffy told the demon, surprised that she hadn't figured this out herself yet. "I invited their leader, or whatever she is, to come here", she added, "at four, so she can tell us all everything she knows. Maybe we'll figure out what's going on then."

"And if not?" Xander demanded to know, looking from one member of the gang to the next, "then what?"

"Then we'll have to try and keep an eye on the remaining girls", Pat suggested, making them all look at her, "so we'll see whoever wants them when he tries to grab another one."

"I suggested that they should stay with Buffy until this has been cleared up", Giles let the demon know, making it clear that she hadn't been the first one to have this idea, "but she wasn't all too fond of the idea."

"Well, can you blame me?" the Slayer demanded to know in response, "and don't talk about me as if I wasn't in the room please. I just don't like the thought of having a bunch of wannabe-wiccas hanging around in my house and maybe freaking out when they see real magic."

"You think that might happen?" Pat demanded to know, raising an eyebrow, smirking when Buffy immediately nodded, slight annoyance in her voice when she replied. "After what Willow told me about them? I'm pretty sure that will happen once they see what magic really is. Or once they see your… furrier side, or how you're playing with fire."

"If we do this, we definitely have to warn them before we do anything magical or demonic", Willow agreed, "and I have to agree with Giles, it does sound like the reasonable thing to do, even if you don't like it, Buffy… I'd offer to take them in at our place, but there's not enough room."

"I know", Buffy sighed, "but let's keep that in the back of our heads as last resort for now, okay? Let's hear first what Gabby has to say about the girls who vanished once she comes here."

Nodding, they all made themselves comfortable again, nodding in perfect unison when Giles asked if he should refill their drinks; and while he left to do so, they started waiting for the leader of the Wicca group to arrive and tell them everything she knew about the girls who had vanished.


	2. Chapter 2

To everyone's dismay, Gabby didn't arrive punctually at four, but at quarter past, and didn't even apologize; since she clearly was upset though, no one made any comment about it, Buffy just asking her to sit down and Giles offering her a drink, introducing her to the members of the gang she hadn't met yet after she had declined.

"You told all those guys about it?" Gabby demanded to know as soon as she had taken a seat, giving Buffy an incredulous look which briefly annoyed the blonde, "I thought you said you would keep it to yourself until we figured something out!"

"I said we wouldn't involve any authorities", Buffy corrected her, "and all those guys, as you called them, have helped with countless equally unpleasant situations, so let's not question them being here, okay?"

"Okay", the young woman agreed after a moment, "and sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you, it's just… I'm scared, you know?"

"I know", Buffy reassured her, giving her best to sound tender, "and we're all here to help. Now tell us everything you know."

"There's not much to tell", Gabby mumbled, running one hand through her short, brunette hair nervously, "Sarah, Ally and Henrietta have gone missing, and no one of us knows why. I already checked all their records I could get my hands on after our first talk, Buffy, but the only thing they really had in common was the Wicca group…"

"So someone's definitely targeting them for that", Pat stated the obvious, "the question is, why? Did you notice anything weird going on lately?"

"Not really", Gabby sighed, "everything was just as always before they started vanishing… But I already told all that to Buffy, so why do I have to repeat it?"

"Because you were upset back then and maybe, you missed something", the Slayer told her, "if you want us to help you, we need to know everything, do you understand?"

"Yes", Gabby gave back, now sounding impatient, "but there's nothing else I can tell you, there was nothing weird! We had our meetings, twice a week, and our bake sale the first Wednesday of the month…"

"When did the first girl vanish?" Willow wanted to know in reply, making Gabby look at her with considerable more friendliness than she'd been granting Buffy and the others so far, probably because she still remembered her from her short time in the group.

"On Friday, after the sale, it was Ally", she told the witch, "then, two days later, Henrietta vanished, and another two days after that, Sarah."

"A regular rhythm, then", Giles pointed out, taking out his glasses and beginning to clean them, "now the question is what is happening during those two days."

"Are there rituals that take so long?" Pat wanted to know, once more demonstrating that she knew surprisingly little about magic, despite the fact that her very nature gave her a certain talent and inclination towards it, frowning when in response, all she received was a blank look from Gabby and shrugs from her girlfriend and from Giles.

"There are millions of rituals", Willow told her when she noticed her dismayed look, "and of course there are some which can take that long… In case they work, which they won't if those girls are subjected to them."

"What are you talking about?" Gabby demanded to know, sounding impatient and annoyed again, "what rituals? And why would anyone subject three of us to any of those?"

"There are several magical rituals which need a witch's blood to work", Willow told her in reply, choosing her next words wisely since she didn't want to offend the other girl, not quite succeeding though, as the expression on Gabby's face quickly showed. "And, well, no offense, but… When I was still there, you girls weren't actually real witches. So their blood wouldn't do any good."

"How can you say that", Gabby demanded to know, outraged, "of course we are real witches!"

"Let's not fight about this now", Buffy butted in before Willow could reply anything and this might turn into a discussion, "we need to focus our energies on figuring out what is going on. Gabby, are you sure that you never noticed anything strange? Strange people at the bake sale maybe, or something like that? A newbie to the group?"

"No newbies", Gabby gave back, but not without giving the witch another glare, "and I don't know about all the people who come to our bake sales, they are open to everyone, not just to the campus population, so…"

"So, this is completely unhelpful", Pat added, frowning before she looked at Buffy, giving the Slayer a slightly mischievous smirk. "Seems like you have to take in a bunch of wiccas, Buffy."

"It seems so, yes", the Slayer sighed, then smirked as well, the demon not liking the sight of that at all, and with good reason, as she found out moments later when the blonde continued. "And also, I'll have to take in a certain witch and her partner, so we'll have all our fighters there combined in case an attack happens."

Grumbling, Pat leaned back into her seat and crossed her arms over her chest, showing that she wasn't all too fond of the idea; she had to admit though that it was making sense, and thus just nodded grudgingly, making Buffy smile sweetly at her – before Gabby spoke up and distracted them from their talk, sounding so confused that it forced the demon to hold back a chuckle. "Take in a bunch of wiccas? Why? What are you talking about?"

"I want all of you to stay in my house with me", Buffy clarified in reply, "you'll be safe there. Especially with Willow, Pat and me around. There's no reason to think that whoever has taken the three girls will stop, so I want to keep the remaining ones of your group close and at the safest place possible."

"So we're all supposed to move in with you?" Gabby wanted to know, stunned, "you do know there's still seven of us, right?"

"Yes", Buffy sighed, "but, as I said, we need to keep an eye on you and that'll be easiest and safest in my home. You are alright with this, are you?"

"Well, not really", Gabby muttered, "but it makes sense, so… I'll call the other girls and tell them about it and that they should pack up."

"Good", the Slayer nodded, "tell them all to come here, then we can go to my place together. If the last girl was taken on Thursday, and whoever is taking them keeps to this rhythm, then he'll try to get another one tomorrow, so tell them to come here right after packing up."

"Okay", Gabby agreed, then got up and moved a few steps away, digging out her cell phone so she could call the remaining members of the group; while she did so, Pat got up from her seat and told Buffy that Willow and she would go and pack up as well, making the Slayer nod before she asked the couple to meet them all back at her house, both of them agreeing before they left for their apartment, both slightly dismayed about the fact that they had to leave it again so shortly after returning to it.

* * *

"You know", Pat spoke up half an hour later, back at their home, packing up clothes and her stash of cigarettes for the stay at Buffy's house, "I wonder why we even bother having an apartment, we could just move in with Buffy permanently and make it all much easier."

"Uuh, no, bad idea", Willow disagreed as well while she threw several pairs of socks into her bag, "where would we sleep there? No matter which room we'd get, there'd always be someone too close for comfort when we… get close."

"Good point", Pat had to admit, "and also, Buffy's house is non-smoking. I just hope we won't have to stay there for too long, I don't like the thought of living with a whole bunch of wannabe-wiccas for several weeks."

"I wonder if they'll really freak out when they see some real magic", Willow giggled in reply, "or when they see what you can do…"

"If they really as far from real witches as you think they are, they'll probably run away screaming", Pat smirked, finishing her packing and zipping the bag shut, "and I don't see why I shouldn't trust your judgement, so… Yeah. They'll freak. Majorly."

"I know that's nasty, but I kinda look forward to that", Willow admitted, having the grace to blush slightly, "especially after how Gabby insisted on how they are real witches."

"Yeah, because having a bake sale once a month is totally something a witch would do", Pat muttered, shaking her head while she sat down on the edge of the bed and watched how Willow went on packing, the witch giving her a brief smile in response to her words.

"Let's hope it won't turn into a stampede", she stated, zipping her bag shut as well afterwards, "or they'll ruin the house and Buffy will be pissed."

"She already is", Pat chuckled, "not that I don't understand her, the thought of living with a bunch of college girls who believe they're witches unnerves me a bit, as well."

"I think the only one who likes the new situation is Dawn", Willow giggled, grabbing her bag and making her way out of the bedroom with her partner in tow, "she seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea."

"She might come to regret that once she has to share her room with a girl or two", Pat smirked, putting down her bag so she could put on her jacket, then took a moment to decide between shoes and boots, settling for the boots after a moment, figuring that they were more suitable for kicking, in case there should be any fighting going on.

"Let's go then?" she half-asked, half-stated once she had put them on, making Willow nod; they both picked up their bags again, then left the apartment once more, heading for Buffy's home not even a minute later.

* * *

When they arrived there, the Wicca group already was present, all of them sitting in the living room and looking around uneasily, making both the witch and the demon wonder how much they were aware of the danger they all were in.

"There you are", Buffy greeted, sounding so relieved that it made the couple smirk, "I was just about to tell them all what's going on."

"Don't let us stop you", Willow gave back, looking for a free seat and frowning when she didn't find one, taking the floor after a moment and making her partner sit down next to her; nodding, Buffy focused on the group of girls again, taking the time to introduce both Willow and Pat – without mentioning their special nature – before she repeated what Gabby had told her, reminding the group of the fact that three of them already had vanished and that so far, there was no reason to think that it would stop.

"So you all think we're in danger, too", one of them spoke up, a rather pudgy girl with long, wavy red hair, looking at the Slayer with a mixture of worry and disbelief on her face, the worry increasing when Buffy immediately nodded.

"Three of you have vanished", she then reminded the other girl, "and, as I said, there is no reason to believe that whoever is responsible for this will stop anytime soon. So, you all are in danger, and that's why Gabby called you all and asked you to stay here for a while."

"And how do you want to protect us?" another girl, with strangely coloured green and blue hair, wanted to know, sounding quite sceptical, "no offense, Buffy, but I'm not really sure why Gabby chose to ask you for help, you're quite… well… small."

"No worries", Buffy gave back, giving her best to not let her annoyance about this show, telling herself that it was normal to be sceptical for people who had no idea about her being the Slayer, didn't even know that a Slayer existed, "we'll do just fine. As you know, Willow's a witch, and both Pat and I are stronger than we look."

"At least she's tall", the girl mumbled with a look at the demon; then, yet another girl cleared her throat and gained the attention of everyone, shifting on the couch nervously as she noticed that all eyes were on her now.

"So how long are we supposed to stay here?" she inquired, "and what about the guy who's snatching members of our group? Shouldn't we call the police or something?"

"The police won't do much good", Gabby was the one to answer that question, before any of the members of the Scoobie Gang could do so, "you all know how useless they are here, right? How are they supposed to protect us?"

"Well, how are three women supposed to protect us?" green and blue hair girl wanted to know in reply, still sounding sceptical, raising an eyebrow at the Slayer's answer. "We're working on finding out who is responsible for this, and once we know, we'll stop them. That's all you need to know for now."

"This is all so weird", another girl muttered, shaking her head, "there's some psycho out there who targets us and no one of us knows why and now, we're hiding away in a house with a bunch of other women who're supposed to help us. I feel as if I stumbled into a horror movie or something."

The other girls just nodded in reply to that, all looking equally glum and dismayed now; then, Buffy broke the silence by getting up and telling them that they should come with her for a short tour of the house and the assignment of their sleeping places, along with some rules she'd come up with to make living together here more bearable, relieved when at least this time, no one questioned her or talked back.

Instead, all the girls got up from their seat, even the sceptical green and blue haired one; giving them a hopefully calming smile, Buffy led them out of the living room and upstairs while Willow and Pat remained where they were, glad that at least for now, the girls were willing to stay here and that at least, they acknowledged their need for protection, even though both were well aware of how fast this might change if they wouldn't be able to figure anything out anytime soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Once all the girls had been given places to sleep in the house, Buffy ordered pizza for all of them, telling them to stay in the living room while they'd eat once it had been delivered, then retreating to the kitchen with Willow and Pat, keeping her voice low so the girls wouldn't hear anything when she spoke up. "Okay, so far, things are working out as planned, but we better come up with something quick, I doubt they'll all be willing to stay here for long. Any ideas?"

"I've actually been thinking about some sort of modified locator spell", Willow let her know in reply, not really surprising her – after all, her ideas often were the ones to save the day, the Slayer giving her a grateful smile in reply and motioning at her to go on, her smile fading though when the witch did so. "I'm not sure if it will work, keep in mind that usually, that spell is used to locate demons. I'll have to modify it enough so it will work on locating the girls, and that it also will do so in case they're… dead."

She grimaced after the last word, clearly not liking the thought, but well aware of how possible it was that the three girls who had been taken so far had been killed by now; giving her a concerned look, Pat grasped her hand and gave it a tender squeeze, didn't say anything though, thus leaving it to Buffy to answer her best friend. "Let's hope they aren't, but I guess we all know it's possible… Do you think you can do those modifications?"

"I'll give it a try, but I can't promise anything", the redhead gave back, "and I'd prefer to do it where those girls can't interrupt, an interruption might mess it up even if I'm doing everything else right."

"We'll keep them away from you then while you do the spell", Buffy promised, "or maybe you should do it somewhere else, not here in the house. At the Magic Box, perhaps? You'll need supplies from there anyway, right?"

"Wrong", Willow smirked, "I brought all my magic stuff along when we came here, I have everything we need ingredient-wise. I'll just need something personal from each of the girls…"

"The other girls should be able to help with that", Pat pointed out, "or you can find out where exactly they lived on campus and I can go there and get some stuff."

"Let's ask the girls first", Willow decided, making the other two nod; figuring that they had to act fast, Buffy left to do just that, Pat waiting until she was out of the room before she looked at her girlfriend, slight concern in her voice now when she spoke up. "This spell… Will it be dangerous to do?"

"I don't know", Willow admitted with a little sigh, "I've never done such a locator spell before, always just the regular one to find demons, but I guess it shouldn't be, the regular version is a pretty basic spell… It was one of the first ones I learned."

"That's calming", Pat muttered, "so… you won't need to use certain dark powers to do it, right?"

"Right", Willow reassured her at once, "no worries about that."

"Good then", the demon smirked, clearly calmed down now; smiling back at her, Willow moved closer to a quick, but tender kiss, pulling back just when Buffy entered, the blonde proudly holding up a ring and a bracelet.

"I got those two things from our guests", she announced, handing them to Willow, "the belonged to Ally and Sarah. Now we just need something from Henrietta, and I already know in which room and in which dorm she lived."

"I'll go get something from her then", Pat offered, giving her partner a curious look afterwards and asking what was best for doing the spell.

"I'd say jewellery", Willow gave back, thoughtfully, "but that might be difficult because you have no way of knowing if all the jewellery in her room is really hers… Maybe a notebook? That should work. Or a piece of clothing, but no underwear please, that'd be creepy."

"And I don't wanna go through her underwear drawer or something", Pat grimaced, "notebook sounds good me. I'll be back as fast as possible, okay?"

"Okay, and be careful", Willow told her, "it'd be annoying if someone caught you and you'd end up getting into trouble with campus security or something."

"I know how to do that kind of stuff, no worries", Pat reassured her, "there won't be any trouble."

"Good", Buffy threw in, "we'll wait here then, and please do hurry."

"Will do", Pat gave back, then bent down to the witch for another kiss before she hurried off while Willow made herself comfortable at the kitchen table, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to modify the locator spell so it would show them what they needed to see.

* * *

An hour later, Buffy had made it clear to the girls still sitting in the living room that the kitchen was off-limits until they'd be told otherwise; they all had given her curious looks, but none of them had asked what was going on, making the Slayer suspicious if they'd really do what she had said while she made her way back into the kitchen, where Willow had lined up the personal items from the three girls on the table in front of her, next to a map of Sunnydale and the bowl of ingredients she'd use for the spell.

"I told them to stay in the living room", she told the couple, "I just hope they'll listen. Did you figure the spell out, Willow?"

"I think I did", the redhead gave back, eying the ingredients she had readied critically, especially the two she had added to make the spell locate dead or alive humans, "we'll see in a few minutes… Sweetie, I'm gonna need some fire again."

"Sure thing", the demon agreed at once, making the redhead smile at her; then, she took in a deep breath and focused on the bowl, closing her eyes as she started chanting the spell, hoping and praying that the changes she had made to it had been correct and that it would work as intended.

As she neared the last words of the spell, she looked at her partner and nodded; without missing a beat, Pat flicked a tiny ball of fire into the bowl in reply, the witch finishing the spell just a second later, simultaneously with the door opening and one of the Wicca group girls poking her head in, letting out a squeal when she saw the ingredients of the bowl vanish into a puff of white smoke.

Involuntarily, Willow let out a small, startled sound at the noise the girl had made; and a second later, the smoke which had been billowing from the bowl shot towards her, entering her mouth, nostrils and even her eyes, turning her breathing into shocked gasps as her head was thrown back into her neck.

"Willow!" Pat cried out in shock while Buffy moved to the stunned Wicca girl with shocking speed, grabbed her and pushed her out the kitchen; when she turned around again, the redhead had slumped forward in her seat, the last few tendrils of smoke rising from her still form and fading away while Pat hurried to her side, grabbing her shoulders and pulling her into an upright position again, worry and fear written all over her face as she stared at her partner's closed eyes.

"Willow", she tried again, relief flooding her when the redhead opened her eyes a moment later; considering what just had happened, they looked surprisingly normal, her breath returning to a slower, healthier rate as well while she looked around, disoriented.

"Can you hear me?" Pat demanded to know, fighting down the urge to shake her, "are you alright?"

"I… I think I am", Willow gave back after a moment, focusing on her girlfriend, "I feel a bit dizzy…"

"No surprise", the demon muttered, throwing an angry look at the kitchen door even though the girl couldn't be seen there anymore, "that was quite the unexpected sight, I have to say. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah", the witch gave back after another moment, a few seconds she had taken to do a quick inventory of herself, "but the spell was botched, see? No little lights on the map."

"Oh forget that for now" Pat told her impatiently, "after how that stuff went right into you, I'm just glad you're fine. You can try again later."

"I will", Willow decided in reply, getting up from the chair slowly, making sure that her legs would carry her before she made her way to the sink and helped herself to a glass of water there, only to nearly spit the sip she'd taken it from back out moments later when her partner spoke up again. "And now that I know you're fine, I'll go and yell at that girl. What was she thinking?"

"No you won't", Willow stated sharply enough to make the taller woman stop dead in her tracks, "she didn't do that on purpose, and if you yell at her, you'll only freak her out. I'll talk to her."

For a moment, Pat looked as if she wanted to start arguing about this, or maybe storm off to yell at the girl anyway; then, she grudgingly muttered "Fine" and sat down, forcing Buffy to hold back a smirk at the sight of how well the witch could keep her girlfriend in check whenever it was necessary.

"I'll be right back", Willow promised with a slight smile, emptying her glass with a few big gulps before she left the kitchen, briefly, but reassuringly touching her girlfriend's shoulder on the way out; to her relief, Pat merely grumbled to herself, but stayed where she was, making the talk which surely was about to happen much easier for the redhead.

* * *

Already before she entered the living room, she could hear the buzz of all the girls talking at once; the moment she stepped inside though, they all fell silent and stared at her, seconds ticking by during which Willow had to force herself to stay still, telling herself that it surely wouldn't help to impress them if she'd start fidgeting around now.

"…what was that in there?" the girl who had interrupted the spell finally broke the by then uncomfortable silence; holding back the urge to roll her eyes, the witch smiled instead, glad at how steady her voice sounded when she replied. "Magic. What else?"

"But there was fire, and then all that smoke", the girl stated the obvious, sounding so stunned that Willow couldn't help herself, but just had to let her smile widen, "such stuff never happened at our group!"

"Well, no offense", the witch started in reply, choosing her words carefully, "but, well, from what I remember when I was part of that group… You didn't really do any magic there."

"Of course we do", another girl threw in, sounding indignant and giving the redhead an annoyed look, "we do our empowering ceremony each week before the meeting starts!"

"Really", Willow gave back sceptically, getting irritated as well by the way that girl was looking at her, as if she was some crazy homeless person who just had wandered in from the street, "did something like this ever happen during those _empowering ceremonies_?"

With those words, she focused on one of the candles on the living room table, her eyes briefly narrowing – before she made a short, sharp gesture towards it, the girls letting out high shrieks in surprising unison when a second afterwards, a flame flickered to life, burning brightly.

"How did you do that?" the girl with blue and green hair finally demanded to know, after a few seconds had passed in shocked silence; smirking, Willow just shrugged, ignoring the way the obnoxious girl from before rolled her eyes at her reply. "Magic. Again. My fire tricks aren't so good though, you should see what my girlfriend can do."

"Is she a witch too?" yet another girl wanted to know; after a moment, Willow replied with "Kind of", not wanting to tell them about Pat's true nature yet, convinced that this would freak them out even more than her little display of magic already had.

"What were you doing in there?" the girl who had interrupted the spell now demanded to know, her eyes suddenly sparkling with curiousness; shrugging, the redhead told her what the plan had been, shaking her head regretfully when the girl asked if it had worked in reply.

"No", she then clarified verbally as well, "it didn't. We'll try again later, after we got more ingredients for the spell, I used up all I had with that first try…"

"You can get stuff from the Magic Box, right?" Gabby threw in, smiling proudly at her chance to show off at least a bit of knowledge, "but I wish there'd be another place, the owner freaks me out."

"The owner is a close friend of mine", Willow told her, smirking at the wide-eyed look that appeared on the girl's face in reply, "but I understand why she might freak you out, she's quite… peculiar. You're right though, we'll get the ingredients we need from there."

"Does she give them to you for free because you're a friend? That'd be so cool", the spell interrupting girl demanded to know, her face falling when the witch giggled and shook her head, smirking again when she replied. "No, she doesn't, but I don't mind. It's too late to go there today though, so we'll do that tomorrow, but when we try the spell again, no more interruptions, alright?"

"I promise", the girl sheepishly gave back, even blushing a bit; smiling, the redhead nodded, satisfied by the promise, then turned and made her way back to the kitchen while the girls started whispering about magic and what one of them had seen again, all of them clearly still not able to believe how big the difference between their magic and what the witch had done was.


	4. Chapter 4

Upon her return to the kitchen, Pat immediately asked the witch if she was alright, seeming relieved when her partner nodded; smiling slightly, touched by the concern of her girlfriend, Willow moved over to where she stood next to the fridge with a bottle of coke in one hand, smiling as well when the redhead put both arms around her and prompted her to return the embrace.

"I'm fine, really", Willow then reassured the taller woman, both of them momentarily oblivious to the fact that Buffy was still there and was watching them, "stop worrying. I imagine that it had to look scary when that spell went all kablooey, but I don't think it did anything to me."

"You have no idea how scary it looked", Buffy reminded them of her presence; looking at her, Willow just shrugged, then smirked as she snatched the coke bottle from her girlfriend and brought it to her mouth to take a long sip from it, ignoring the way Pat raised an eyebrow at her in response.

The moment the cool glass touched her lips though, a tremendous flash of lightning seemed to go off behind her eyes; gasping, not even noticing how the bottle slid out of her grasp and shattered on the floor, she stumbled a few steps back, both hands coming up to clutch at her head as images and emotions started to flood her mind, her eyes going wide when she suddenly found herself staring at a tall figure standing over her, the weak light in the small room creating small metallic glints on the knife the figure was holding, terror rushing through her when it raised that knife and it came down, glinting silvery moments before it embedded itself deep in her throat, the taste of her own blood flooding her mouth…

"_Willow!" _The sharp, freaked out sound of the voices of both Buffy and Pat tore her out of whatever strange state she had been in, along with weird gurgling noises, the redhead realizing after a moment that those were coming from her own throat, her terror only growing when she also noticed that she was clutching her throat with one hand and that she could still feel the sharp pain of the knife.

Dreadful of what she might see, she forced herself to pull back her hand and look at it, suddenly convinced that it would be covered in blood; to her relief, the skin was dry and clean though, and even though both her girlfriend and her best friend looked quite freaked out, she figured that they would be in a much worse state, had she really been bleeding.

"What the fuck just happened", Pat finally was the one to speak up, reaching out with one hand to grasp her partner's shoulder, "you just went all… I dunno, your eyes rolled all the way back into your head and then you started making those awful choking noises!"

"I'm not sure", Willow gave back after a moment, seconds during which she had wondered if she might be able to talk with that pain in her throat, relieved at the fact that at least, it was slowly fading away, "it was like… some kind of vision, only much more intense…"

"No shit", the demon grumbled in reply, pointedly ignoring it when Willow responded with the usual "Language", merely speaking on a moment afterwards, "as I said, you made those horrible chocking noises, for a moment we thought you're dying or something!"

"What did you see?" Buffy demanded to know before the redhead could respond to this, giving her friend a curious look; shuddering as she thought about what she had seen and felt, Willow nervously ran one hand through her hair while she tried to sort her thoughts, her voice trembling just enough to let the other two women notice when she finally replied. "Well, I… I know this will sound kinda silly, but I think I was in one of those poor girls, just before she got killed…"

"Sweetie", the demon sighed out in reply, "after all we've seen in this town, you really think this will sound silly to us?"

"Good point", Willow admitted, "so, alright, it doesn't sound silly. It's horrible either way though, I felt how he cut her throat, how scared she was… Hence the chocking noises. I think I could even taste blood."

"So much about that spell not doing anything", Pat dryly commented, shrugging when both Buffy and Willow gave her a disbelieving look, then amused her by speaking up in perfect unison. "You think it was the spell?"

Falling silent, they looked at each other in surprise while the taller woman took a moment so smirk, then nodded, raising an eyebrow at her girlfriend.

"You think it wasn't?" she inquired sceptically, "what else could it have been then? Maybe the way the spell got interrupted put up some sort of connection or something."

"Could be", Willow agreed after a moment of thinking about this, "maybe it was a combination of all of it, you know, the words I changed and the new ingredients I added and then, the interruption, along with the personal items I got from each girl…"

"Did you see anything which might help us with figuring that out?" Buffy wanted to know, shrugging at the annoyed look Pat gave her, the demon clearly not happy about how the blonde was pestering her partner with questions so shortly after she had recovered.

"No, not really", Willow sighed, not sharing her girlfriend's annoyance, "I couldn't even make out the killer properly, I have no idea if it was a man or a woman or some sort of demon. The poor girl was in some tiny room, but if it had windows, I couldn't see them…"

"So it didn't really help", Buffy sighed, receiving another glare from Pat which she skilfully ignored this time, "do you think it will happen again?"

"How am I supposed to know", Willow gave back, now feeling slightly irritated as well, "it's not like I've ever done this before. And honestly, I hope it won't, it doesn't feel very nice to have your throat cut, I don't need to experience that again."

"But if you can see more the next time it happens, if it happens, it might help", Buffy argued, "so we can stop whoever is responsible for this from killing even more of those poor girls…"

"I know", Willow had to admit, "but… we don't even know if I saw something simultaneously while it was happening or if it was a glimpse into the future or the past. And as I said, I don't know if it'll happen again…"

"All we can do is wait then, huh?" Pat wanted to know, making her girlfriend nod after a moment; looking down at the sad remains of the coke bottle and the mess it had made on the floor when it had shattered, the redhead then reached for her throat once more, shuddering again as she thought of how it had felt when the knife had slashed through skin and muscle, asking anyone who might be listening that, despite how helpful it might be, she wouldn't have to go through something similar again.

* * *

Even though the house was practically filled to the brim with chatting, giggling girls, it was quiet several hours later, as all of them had gone to sleep; to the relief of both Willow and Pat, Buffy hadn't assigned any of the girls to the room she had given to the couple, even though they both wondered why and if they should dare to ask the Slayer about the reason.

"You got quite annoyed with Buffy earlier today, after my dramatic moment, right?" Willow asked while she changed into her pyjama, smiling slightly when the demon let out a low "Psh" sound in reply, some of the annoyance showing through her voice again while she changed into her sleepwear as well. "Well, can you blame me? I mean, you sounded as if you were just about to die and clearly, it wasn't an all too pleasant experience for you, but still all she worried about was how this can be used to our advantage."

"That was quite surprising, yeah", Willow admitted, "but I understand her… If what I saw was real, and I have no reason to doubt it, at least one of those girls is already dead, and she just wants to stop that from happening again."

"I understand that, too", Pat reassured her, getting into the bed and making herself comfortable, "but you're her best friend, you'd think she'd be a tiny bit more concerned after that happened to you."

"She's probably just a bit riled up by all those girls staying here", the redhead argued in favour of her best friend while she laid down as well, "and about the fact that so far, we know nothing about who's doing this to those poor girls. Oh, talking of them, I told them you're something like a witch so they wouldn't freak out, maybe you shouldn't mention yet that you're a demon to them."

"Aw, and I was planning to demon out in front of them tomorrow at breakfast", Pat smirked, chuckling when Willow punched her upper arm lightly and gave her a strict look.

"I hope that was a joke", she then stated, her expression softening again when her partner nodded; pulling the blanket over herself, she then made herself comfortable as well, smiling when the demon pulled her into a tender embrace afterwards.

"Let's hope none of those girls is a sleepwalker or a monstrous snorer", the taller woman muttered as soon as they both laid comfortably, "or prone to nightmares, I don't wanna get thrown out of bed in the middle of the night by screaming."

"Well, if one of them does, we can't blame them", Willow pointed out in reply, once more reminded of her girlfriend's nature by this momentary lack of compassion, "after all, someone – or something – is after them and wants to kill them, that would give me nightmares, too. Remember how often I woke up screaming when Warren was back and after all of us."

"Yeah, we can't blame them, but I still don't want it to happen", the demon smirked, making the witch nod after a moment; then, she let out a hearty yawn and let her partner know that she wanted to get some sleep now, making it the taller woman's turn to nod agreement.

"Sleep well", she then said, the couple sharing a quick, but tender kiss afterwards before they both quickly drifted off into sleep, slumbering soundly through the night, without any screams or sleepwalking girls disturbing them.


	5. Chapter 5

"Alright", Buffy stated early in the next day, after everyone had had breakfast – and the Slayer had lamented to her friends about how expensive it would be to feed a bunch of girls until this would be over, a complaint which only had made Pat shrug and remind her of the fact that she was quite wealthy – and then had assembled in the living room, "even though you're all here and safe now, we decided to teach you a few basic self defence techniques, just in case you might need them. Any volunteers to go first?"

"You're not gonna hit us, right?" Gabby nervously asked, seeming a bit calmer when Buffy shook her head with a slight smile on her face; figuring that as the leader of the group, she should give a good example to the others, she got up from her seat a moment later, nodding when the Slayer asked her if she wanted to go first.

"We don't know much about who is responsible for this yet", the blonde started to explain as soon as Gabby had moved up to her and stood in front of her, "but, as I said, it won't hurt if you know some basic stuff. We'll start with how to get out of this grip."

With those words, she stepped closer to Gabby with surprising speed, her hands practically shooting up and closing around the slightly taller woman's throat, prompting her to let out a startled gasp, relief momentarily showing on her face when she realized that Buffy wasn't squeezing.

"If someone does get you into such a grip, they won't just hold you, they'll try to choke you", the blonde reminded her of how someone else wouldn't be so nice, "but don't let that send you into panic. To get out of such a hold, try to get your fists in between the assailant's forearms and then smash them outwards with all your might. If the assailant doesn't want to have his arms broken, he'll usually let go. Give it a try."

Taking in a deep breath, Gabby did as she had been told, smiling proudly when the move worked just as it should; nodding, satisfied as well, Buffy made her practice it a few more times, then asked the girls to get together in teams of two and try the move as well, observing their progress together with Pat, both of them correcting and giving helpful hints when necessary.

"Alright", the Slayer raised her voice again when she thought that they all had grasped the basics of the move, "now let's move on to something else. I'll teach you how to defend yourselves in case you're grabbed from behind."

"Won't you teach us any kicks and blows?" Gabby demanded to know before Buffy could go on with the lecture, "I know you can do that, and quite impressively…"

"Because she's quite strong, too", Pat was the one to answer that, making Gabby look at her, "and you need strength to make punches and kicks work. Think you're strong enough to do that?"

"I won't know until I tried, right?" Gabby smartly gave back, "why don't you let me try?"

"Fine", the demon shrugged, "try it. Hit me."

"Oh my", Willow muttered to herself, knowing that this wouldn't end well; if Gabby had heard her, she didn't let it show, studying the taller woman silently for a few moments – before she suddenly stepped forward and lashed out with one fist, her eyes going wide when the demon caught it effortlessly.

"Nice try", the black haired woman said, not really sounding as if she meant it, "but if you wanna punch someone out, you'll need more strength than that. Wanna try again?"

In response, Gabby's eyes narrowed momentarily – before she tried again, letting out a disbelieving huff when this time, the taller woman didn't even bother to try blocking, but merely leaned back a bit, making her miss and almost caused her to lose her balance.

"How do you do that?" Gabby demanded to know in annoyance once she was sure she wouldn't end up falling flat on her face, glaring at the demon, "how can you know where I wanna punch you?"

"I'm experienced", Pat told her in reply, unimpressed by the girl's obvious annoyance, "and you aren't. Inexperienced people usually go for the face, like they see it in the movie."

"But that's good, isn't it", another girl threw in, sounding a bit dumbfounded, "I mean, if you hit someone in the face, it stuns them, no?"

"If you hit them correctly, yes", Buffy took over again, "but if you don't know what you're doing, you'll end up hurting your own hand as well."

"I can confirm that", Willow added, grimacing as she thought of the few rare occasions when she had thrown a punch and almost had ended up breaking her knuckles, "hence why I don't rely on brute force, but on magic."

"Maybe you should teach us that", yet another girl suggested, "I mean, we are Wiccas, right? We should be able to do the good stuff!"

"It's not that easy", Willow protested, finding it hard to believe that this girl still hadn't grasped the difference between real magic and what they had been doing in their group so far, "I can't just tell you some magic words and you'll be able to do it. Magic is… more than that."

"It seemed easy enough when you were doing that", Spell-Interrupting girl shrugged, only to nearly flinch back at the glare she received from both the witch and her partner in reply, giving her best to hide behind the girl she'd been training with moments later.

"It might have looked easy", the redhead reprimanded her, "but I've had years of practice."

"Can't you just teach us something easy then?" Gabby wanted to know, apparently dropping the idea of punching people out to defend herself, "some sort of fire spell like you used to light up the candle or some energy burst or something?"

"I'll think about it", Willow gave back after a moment, "but for now, focus on what Buffy and Pat are teaching you, alright?"

"Alright", the other girl sighed, then nodded when the Slayer asked her if she was ready to go on; and while she watched them being taught by her best friend and her girlfriend, Willow's mind ran wild as she tried to figure out what – and if – she should teach them.

* * *

Quite some time later, Buffy had declared the lesson over for now, wanting to teach them too much and overwhelm then; Pat had gone outside for a smoke, and Willow had accompanied her, not just to be close to her, but also because she found herself unable to make up her mind about teaching them or not.

"What's bothering you?" the demon asked her before she could bring the topic up herself though, giving her a look which was a mixture of curiousness and slight concern; touched by the insight her partner had just demonstrated, the witch let out a small sigh in reply, then shrugged, giving the taller woman a gloomy look.

"I'm not sure about teaching those girls some real magic", she then admitted, Pat clearly not able to see the problem since she raised an eyebrow, prompting the redhead to go on. "They have no idea what they are talking about when they talk about magic", she elaborated, "how powerful it can be, and how dangerous. And how easy it is to… get lost in it. I know what I'm talking about."

"You're afraid they'll get addicted, like you did back then?" Pat frowned, "even if you just teach them an easy, tiny spell? No offense, Honey, but… I've done magic with you before, and even though it was nice, I didn't feel the need to do more and more of it. Not that I wanna say you were weak or something, but…"

"I'm not offended", Willow reassured her, smiling slightly, "and yes, we've done magic before and it didn't have that effect on you, but as you do so often, you're forgetting that your nature helps with that."

"Yeah, good point", Pat admitted, taking a drag from her cigarette afterwards before she continued. "Can't you… I dunno, find out who of them has an such an inclination to magic and who'd risk addiction?"

"I don't think so", Willow sighed, "and I really don't want to make everyone's situation here worse by getting any of those girls addicted to magic."

"Understandable", Pat agreed, to her girlfriend's relief now getting her point, "but I'm afraid they won't stop pestering you about it. They're scared, even if they're not all too willing to admit it, and they want to find ways to protect themselves. I mean, Gabby's even considering using brute force, and look at her and how fragile she is."

"I know", Willow mumbled, "and I understand that they are scared and everything… Maybe I can find some tiny energy force spell or something, one for beginners which won't be too dangerous and too weak to actually make them addicted."

"If they can even do it", Pat shrugged, finishing her cigarette and throwing it to the ground before she stepped on it to put it out, "not everyone can do magic, right?"

"Actually, if they had the right books and pronounced the words the right way, they can", Willow corrected her, once more momentarily stunned about how a demon could know so little about magic and how it worked, "Xander learned that the hard way once when he read a random spell and set the book on fire. Giles got mad at him."

"I can imagine that", Pat smirked, "poor Xander. Well, let's hope then they won't get their hands on any books and, if they do, that they won't know the right pronounciation."

"I better go through the living room bookshelves and make sure there are no magic books around", Willow grimaced in reply, images of fire, rabbits and skeletons with swords dancing through her mind; nodding, Pat gave her a reassuring look, silently telling her that everything would be fine no matter what she'd do about the magic and the eagerness of the girls to learn it before they returned inside, joining Buffy and the group of girls again.


	6. Chapter 6

"I talked to Giles while you were outside", Buffy greeted them the moment they stepped back into the living room, "and there's something we should discuss. In private."

"Does it concern us?" the quite obnoxious green and blue haired girl wanted to know before the witch or the demon had a chance to reply, "then we should hear it, too! I mean, someone's after us to kill us, we have a right to know!"

"Quit it, Jackie", Gabby sharply said, making the girl look at her, "they've handled such things before, they know what they're doing, if Buffy says it's private, then this is how it'll be."

"Thanks, Gabby", the Slayer smiled, a bit surprised about this; clearly feeling the same, Jackie gave her a confused look, but didn't say anything else, merely watching how the three left the living room together and retreated to the kitchen, the blonde letting out a small sigh before she turned to look at her friends.

"It's bad news", she softly stated, throwing nervous glances at the door leading to the living room every now and then, not wanting any of the girls to overhear.

"Giles has been researching those rituals we talked about", she went on after sorting her thoughts for a moment, her hesitation prompting the couple to exchange worried glances, "and, well, he found something… quite unsettling."

"What is it?" Willow demanded to know, not sure what to expect; clearly, whatever that revelation had been, it had upset the Slayer, but the witch found it hard to figure out why Buffy would beat around the bush for so long and not just flat-out tell them.

"Well", she finally spoke on after taking in a few deep breaths, "he also did some research on the internet, don't ask me how he managed to do that, we all know he hates computers, and he found… several newspaper articles from other towns, other colleges…"

"The group here isn't the first one, is it", Pat suddenly realized what Buffy was going for, Willow's eyes going wide when the blonde glumly nodded in reply, just the tiniest tremble in her voice when she answered. "No… it's the fourth one. Whoever is behind this has been to three other towns and has wiped out the groups at the colleges there completely."

"Jesus", Willow brought out, realizing how serious this was and that they might be dealing with something completely new, a suspicion which was confirmed when Buffy spoke on, after taking in yet another deep breath. "Giles didn't read all those articles word for word, he said he just went over them quickly, but apparently, they all agree on one thing… We're not facing anything supernatural this time, they all say it's a serial killer."

* * *

"A serial killer", Pat echoed, "well that's pleasant. Not that I can say I'm surprised such a guy ended up here eventually."

"Have you ever dealt with someone like that before?" Buffy demanded to know, now sounding not so freaked out anymore, but even a bit hopeful, said hope growing slightly when the demon nodded, only to be smashed into pieces again when moments later, the taller woman raised both hands and hurried to go on, clearly not sharing her view that this surely would help them.

"It was an easy-cheesy one sided thing though, so don't get your hopes up", Pat told her, to her obvious dismay, "the one who sent me to get rid of him already had found out where he was hiding and everything, so… All I had to do was go there and finish him off."

"Not what I wanted to hear", the Slayer admitted with a sigh, "so I guess you don't really know how to find him then…?"

"Nope", the black haired woman replied, shrugging helplessly afterwards, sounding a bit sheepish when she added "even though I wish I could tell you something different."

"It's okay", Buffy sighed out, "we'll have to figure it out on our own then. I guess trying that locator spell again is our best shot for now…"

"Yeah", the redhead agreed at once, "I'll just have to get more ingredients from the Magic Box. I was actually planning to go there now, before you told us the horrible news."

"I'll come with you", Pat half offered, half stated matter-of-factly, "just in case some psycho serial killer figured out by now where we all are hiding and it stalking us or something."

"I wanted you to come along anyway", the witch gave back, "but not because I fear some psychopath is out there, watching us. Urgh, what a creepy thought. Thanks for the nightmares, Honey."

"Sorry", Pat gave back sheepishly, making Buffy smile slightly despite the seriousness of the whole situation; she told the couple to be careful and that they shouldn't mention anything of this to the Wicca girls for now, making them both nod before they made their way back to the house's anteroom to get ready for their trip to the Magic Box.

As they stepped outside, Pat automatically looked left and right, once more reminding her partner of the unpleasant suspicion she had mentioned just minutes ago; suddenly feeling uncomfortable, Willow looked around as well, feeling only slightly relieved when she couldn't spot anything out of the ordinary.

"I wonder how he does it", she said as they walked down the street that would take them to the shop, "I mean, if the police knows that there's a serial killer after a particular type of girl, you'd think they'd try to protect them…"

"They probably did", the demon gave back, shrugging at the surprised look the redhead gave her as an answer to that statement.

"If he knows what he's doing, that won't stop him", she then explained, "I've only been after one serial killer in my… active time, but I've known several others, both demonic and human. Usually, they're quite smart, above average intelligence, often close to genius levels, or they wouldn't be able to last that long without getting caught. So, if our guy is smart too, and knows how to handle the police…"

"I don't like that thought", Willow muttered, once more looking around nervously, "are you keen on keeping me from sleeping tonight?"

"Hey, this time, you asked", Pat defended herself and her new tendency to say things which served as nightmare fuel for her partner, "and I was just honest. We have to keep such stuff in mind anyway when we go up against a serial killer."

"You know", the redhead sighed out in reply, "I once mentioned the possibility that a serial killer might show up here to Buffy, and that it wouldn't surprise me if that would happen, what with this being Sunnydale and everything. She told me that, if that should ever happen, we'd have that guy knocked out and tied up faster than he'd be able to say that he had a difficult childhood, because she's the Slayer and you're a demon… Back then, I thought she's right and laughed with her about it, but now, I'm not so sure about that anymore."

"Which is smart", the demon let her know, "we shouldn't underestimate that guy just because he's just a human. Buffy of all people should know that, I mean, when she nearly got killed, it was a human who did that to her."

"With the help of a gun", Willow reminded her, briefly grimacing at those painful memories, "but yeah, good point… We better have a talk with her about this once we get back home."

"I think she's aware of that by now", Pat gave back, "but it won't hurt to remind her of it, yup. To be honest though, I'm a bit more worried at the moment about you wanting to do that locator spell again."

"What?" Willow demanded to know, surprised, "why?"

"Well, whatever went wrong to make that spell have the effect it had, what if that happens again when you try the spell once more" the demon explained her worries, giving the redhead a concerned look for emphasis, "and maybe even makes that connection, or whatever it is, stronger?"

"I didn't think about that", Willow had to admit, not liking the thought of feeling even more than she already had when that poor girl had been killed and she had been pulled along into the experience.

"I'll check the words and ingredients I changed once more", she then added after a moment, hoping that this would calm her partner down, well aware of the fact that Buffy had been right and that, for the moment, the locator spell was their only hope, "to make sure I got them right. If that connection as caused by the interruption, it shouldn't be a problem."

"I hope you're right about that", Pat mumbled, still worried about the unpleasant side effect the spell had had on her partner; giving her a reassuring smile, Willow tried to calm her down by telling her that everything surely would work out fine, as it always did, then grasped her hand, glad when finally, the demon smiled as well, even though she still looked slightly troubled while they continued on their way to the Magic Box, the redhead eager to get the stuff she needed for performing the spell once more.


	7. Chapter 7

Once they arrived at the Magic Box, they were enthusiastically greeted by Anya, prompting Pat to ask her if business had been slow so far that day, both Willow and the black haired woman smirking when the ex-demon nodded grudgingly.

"There was this silly article in the newspaper about a man going around and killing members of Wicca groups", Anya then told them something they already knew, "so now, not even regular, non-Wicca people dare to buy magic stuff anymore! Not to mention that you have all the Wicca group girls from this town holed up in Buffy's house!"

"To protect them, from that man you just mentioned", Willow reminded her, rolling her eyes at the ex-demon's response. "I know, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. So, what do you want?"

As an answer, Willow handed her the list of ingredients she'd need, figuring that this would be easier and faster than telling them all to the ex-demon and having to repeat several of them; after giving the piece of paper a critical look, Anya set off to find what had been written on it, the redhead leaning against the counter and crossing her arms over her chest as she waited for the older woman to return.

"I hope she has it all here", she mumbled, making her partner shrug while she looked around, at the content of the shelves all around them.

"Why not", the taller woman then gave back, "as she said, business is slow since that guy came here, so…"

"Hope you're right", Willow sighed, then moved away from the counter and to one of the displays, studying the charms and trinkets that were laid out there; and suddenly, she was in the dark again, with the tall, dark figure standing above her, with a hoarse cry, she tried to struggle, only to realize that she couldn't move, that she had been tied up, and then she saw the knife again and her eyes went wide, her cries turning into whimpers when the glistening blade came down and embedded itself deep into her body, then was pulled back out and rammed in again and again and again and…

The loud sound of a slap and the sharp pain that followed moments later tore her out of it again, and she gasped, shocked to find herself on the cold wooden floor of the Magic Box; Pat was kneeling next to her, but not looking at her, staring at Anya angrily, the ex-demon holding her gaze innocently.

"Anya!" Pat now snapped, making the witch realize who of the two had hit her, "are you insane?! Why'd you hit her?!"

"It helped, didn't it?" Anya gave back, sounding just as innocent as she had been looking, "that's what they do in the movies when someone has hysterics! They slap them and everything is fine again."

"She was not having hysterics, you stupid…" the demon started, stopping herself in the last second from adding a much harsher insult; then, she remembered her girlfriend and focused on her again, all annoyance and anger gone from her voice, replaced by concern, when she spoke to her. "Another one of those vision-thingies…?"

"Yeah", Willow replied after a moment, time she once more had used to make sure she wasn't really hurt; again, she could taste blood in her mouth, and when she tried to sit up, sharp pain rushed through her body again, prompting her to slump back down to the ground with a low groan.

"Get her some water", Pat ordered, without even looking at Anya; to the witch's relief, the other woman did just that, not bothering to start an argument, something she almost had been expecting when she had heard the tone of the demon's voice.

"I'm okay", the redhead finally made herself say, trying to sit up again and, with a few groans and gritting her teeth, finally managing to do so; giving her a sceptic look, Pat clearly wasn't so sure about that, didn't comment on it though, merely watching how Anya returned with the glass of water and gave it to the witch, who took several careful sips from it, then looked at her girlfriend again.

"Really, I'm fine", she reassured her once more, smiling slightly at the way the demon just raised an eyebrow in reply, "I just wish I had seen more this time…"

"Was it just like the first one?" Pat wanted to know, dropping the topic of her partner's well-being; nodding, Willow came to her feet again now that the pain was fading away, glad when her legs did their job and didn't give in beneath her again.

"Almost", she then corrected herself, handing the glass of water back to Anya, "only this time, he didn't cut her throat, he stabbed her over and over…"

"Poor girl", the demon grimaced in reply, "at least cutting the throat is over quickly… No surprise you were freaking out."

"And still you denied that she was having hysterics", Anya threw in, unimpressed by the dirty look Pat gave her.

"Anyhoo", she changed the topic, "if you stopped having hysterics, I'll go and get the stuff you wanted now."

"She wasn't having…" Pat started again, then realized that it was a waste of time to argue and fell silent again, shaking her head; Anya gave her a sweet, innocent smile, then turned and hurried off again to get the things Willow wanted, the witch leaning against the counter again as she waited for the ex-demon to return, trying to forget the fear, pain and terror she had felt when she had been connected to that poor girl's mind.

* * *

Once Anya had found everything Willow needed for another try of the modified spell – and had made them pay for it, not even giving them a discount, to Pat's chagrin – the couple headed back to the Summers house, hoping that nothing unpleasant had happened while they had been gone; there was no reason to believe that the killer knew where they all were, since none of the girls had left the house since then, but in Sunnydale, one could never be sure about such things.

"You know, I'm not really sure if doing that spell again is a good idea", Pat voiced her worries about this once more as they made their way back to their temporary home, "I mean, what if it does make the connection stronger? You feel their pain now, which is bad enough, but could it get so strong it would cause actual wounds…?"

"I have no idea", the witch had to admit, giving her partner an apologetic look when she saw the grimace her words had prompted to appear on the taller woman's face, "I guess technically, it could happen, but remember, we still don't know why that connection was established!"

"Which is not exactly calming me down", Pat pointed the lack of reassurance in those words out to her, quickly speaking on when Willow looked as if she wanted to come up with another, by now well-known argument, "but, no matter how much I ponder it, I can't come up with another way to find him, so we don't have much of a choice, I know, you don't need to remind me. That doesn't mean that I have to like the current plan though."

"Well, I'm not all too confident about it either", the redhead admitted after a moment, "but, as you said, we don't have much of a choice at the moment. I guess the girls are more or less safe as long as they're staying at Buffy's, but they can't live there forever."

"Nope, because after a while, that house will be too small for that many people", Pat sighed, then smirked slightly, making her partner giggle as well with her next words. "And seriously, I don't want to see what a Slayer with cabin fever is like."

"And I don't want to see what a certain demon with cabin fever is like", Willow teased as soon as she had calmed down enough to talk, only to giggle again at the look her girlfriend gave her in reply.

"Come on, admit it", she then added, playfully nudging the taller woman's ribs, "your temper is much, _much_ shorter than Buffy's."

"Well, yeah", Pat had to admit after a few seconds, knowing that she could hardly demand anything else, "but at least, we can technically go back to our place once it gets too much. Buffy can't."

"I don't think we really can, either", Willow pointed out to her, "after all, we promised Buffy we'd stay with her and the girls, so…"

"Way to ruin our way out", Pat sighed, then smirked again, giving the witch a mischief look. "Guess you'll have to keep me calm then…"

"I'll just put valerian into your coffee", the redhead shot back, giggling again when the demon made a long face.

"That's not what I had in mind", Pat then pointed out, rolling her good eye when the only reply she received was another giggle; then, Willow grasped her hand and gave it a tender squeeze, immediately causing her to smile again as well, the couple then stopping their walk briefly to share a short, but tender kiss before they headed on back to the Summers house.


	8. Chapter 8

"Alright", Willow mumbled almost an hour later, once more mixing all the ingredients in the bowl while Pat and Buffy stood to her left and right, watching, "let's hope I got it right this time… And that the girls will stick to the rule now and won't enter until we're done."

"I gave them my most impressive glares behind your back while you reminded them of that", Pat smirked, making the witch look at her with a raised eyebrow, "I'm sure they won't enter."

"I'm surprised none of them was crying afterwards", Buffy added, giving the taller woman a smirk, "I know I would freak out if you'd glare like that at me."

"Shame on you", Willow scolded, even though she wasn't able to fully hold back a slight smile, "those poor girls. They are freaked out enough as it is. You didn't give them the Glowing Gaze of Rage, right?"

"Nope", Pat quickly reassured her, "they don't know about that yet and I want to keep it that way for a while, until we can be sure none of them will go crazy and rush at me with the next best weapon once they find out."

"Good point", Buffy agreed, making the taller woman smile at her; then, they both fell silent as Willow looked at the bowl again, then at the map Buffy had put on the table again for her, taking in a deep breath afterwards.

"Alright", she then mumbled, "let's hope it'll work out this time… You know when to add fire, right?"

"Yup", the demon reassured her, eying the bowl critically while, after another deep breath, Willow started mumbling the spell; right after she had said the last word, Pat made a casual flicking gesture at it, sending a tiny flame and setting the ingredients on fire, only to flinch back a second later when said tiny flame suddenly turned into a huge gust of fire, high enough to almost reach the ceiling.

"Oh crap, oh crap", Buffy started to panic, clearly not remembering the fact that someone who didn't care much about the dangers of that particular element was standing right next to her; keeping a much clearer head, Pat rushed to the table and effortlessly smothered the flames with both hands, grimacing when she saw the scorch mark the flames had left on the ceiling. To Willow's dismay, the ingredients in the bowl had been the only things which had caught fire; the map still looked as it had when Buffy had put it on the table, no tiny lights appearing on it to show where the one remaining girl was held captive.

"Dammit!" Willow snapped, frustrated, "it didn't work again! Why not? I did everything right…"

"Are you sure?" Buffy wanted to know, looking up at the scorch mark on the ceiling as well, "maybe those words you added and changed weren't the right ones after all."

"Or the ingredients?" the demon suggested, her gaze moving from the scorch mark to her girlfriend, "something isn't working as it should, after all…"

"I can see that", Willow harshly gave back, only realizing that she had sounded sharper than intended when Pat gave her a startled look, quickly speaking on. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you… It's just, I don't know why it doesn't work! It's as if something is blocking the spell or something…"

"Maybe that's it", the demon suggested, even though she didn't like the thought of a serial killer out there who knew enough about magic to block any spells which might be helpful with stopping him, "maybe he knows magic too and blocks you. Like that fire dude we had to deal with before we went to Maine."

"That's an unsettling thought", Buffy showed that she shared the demon's concerns about that, "but let's give it another try first, maybe with a different mix?"

"Yeah", Willow sighed, "just give me a minute so I can go through the ingredients once more… I'm just glad I bought enough for several spells, it'd suck if we'd had to go back to the shop again and get more."

Nodding her agreement, Pat took the time to light up a cigarette while her partner went through the ingredients once more; after pondering them for a few minutes, the witch finally removed one of the herbs she had used for the spell, mumbling some of the words to herself while she did so, trying to figure out what she had done wrong.

"Alright", she finally sighed, after five minutes of mumbling and getting into one-sided staring contests with the bag of ingredients, "let's give it another try…"

"Should I get the fire extinguisher?" Buffy nervously asked, smiling innocently when she received a dark look from her best friend for that comment, then Pat gained her attention by shaking her head and giving her a smirk, sounding just as amused as she looked when she replied. "No need to, you got one right here."

"Let's hope your fire-extinguishing abilities won't be needed a second time", Willow mumbled, clearly still ticked off about the second failure of the spell; she took a minute to concentrate, well aware of the fact that her annoyance might make a successful casting harder than it had to be, then began once more as soon as she thought that she was calm enough, prompting her girlfriend to move closer to the table again so she could provide fire when it'd be needed.

Just like during the first try, she did just that right after the last word had been muttered; this time, nothing at all happened at first, giving them all time to wonder if the spell had failed again – before Willow suddenly let out a hoarse cry, both hands coming up to clutch at her head, prompting her partner to grab her shoulder, the gesture accompanied by a startled outcry of her name.

Groaning, the redhead leaned forward, still clutching at her head with both hands; and then, blood dripped to the table's wooden surface, prompting both Buffy and Pat to let out startled noises again, the demon's worries reaching new heights while she said her girlfriend's name again, her heart beating up to her throat when the witch didn't react.

"Hey, Will, come on, look at me", she tried again, relieved when at least this time, her partner reacted to her and raised her head; her eyes were filled with tears, and blood was not just dripping, but practically running from her nose, the Slayer reacting to this with surprisingly rational thinking by grabbing the kitchen roll from its place next to the sink, tearing off a piece and handing it to her best friend, smiling slightly when she received a mumbled "Thanks" in reply.

"What happened?" Pat wanted to know, managing to keep her voice surprisingly calm, even though she was quite upset – the only time she had seen Willow react so strongly to her own magic was when she had performed the spell which had blocked all of Amy's powers when the other witch had been a vessel for the devil, and she knew that the spell Willow had done back then had been much more difficult and dangerous than the simple locator spell the redhead had performed a thousand times by now.

"Someone's definitely blocking the magic", Willow now told her, her words muffled by the piece of kitchen roll she still was holding to her nose, the white tissue slowly turning red as her nose continued to bleed, "it backfired spectacularly, right into my brain I guess. That was like a firework going off in there."

"Dammit", Pat cursed, throwing a sour look at the bowl of ingredients, as if it was their fault, "so he does know magic? And how to block such spells?"

"It seems so", Willow sighed, removing the soaked kitchen roll and receiving a fresh piece from Buffy, "and that's really bad."

"No shit", the demon muttered, shrugging at the look the witch gave her in reply to that. "What?" she then defended herself, "it means that a) your nose is running like a fucking faucet and b) we still have no idea how to find that last girl. If she's even still alive."

"Language", Willow reprimanded, "but yeah, good point. Or points. So what do we do now?"

"No more locator spells", Buffy decided in reply, giving her best friend a strict look, "who knows what will happen if you try again."

"I don't want to find out", the redhead sighed in reply, "so yeah, no more locator spells. The question is, how do we find him if we can't do it that way?"

"Question", Pat raised her hand, "do you think he knows now that we're trying to do just that?"

"…could be", Willow thoughtfully gave back after thinking about it for a few moments, "he might have felt my magic, or a disturbance in his when my spell hit his barrier…"

"Could he backtrack that here?" Buffy demanded to know, clearly thinking what Pat was thinking; shrugging helplessly, Willow ran one hand through her hair, then remembered that she still was holding a piece of kitchen roll to her nose and carefully removed it, making sure that her nose had stopped bleeding before she pulled it away fully and threw it into the trash can.

"I have no idea", she then let the Slayer know, "I've never done such a barrier myself, so I don't know how it works and what it does when someone tries to break it. Could be that he'll be able to backtrack and find us here…"

"Maybe we won't have to worry about finding him anymore then", Pat pointed out, ignoring the dismayed look her partner gave her as an answer to that statement, "because, well, he'll just find us now."

"I don't like that thought", Willow muttered, throwing a nervous glance at the door leading to the living room, "all those girls are here, he could just take his pick then."

"Psh, as if we'd let him do that", Buffy confidently gave back, shaking her head in disbelief at her best friend's words, "we'd kick his ass before he could do as much as pull out that knife he seems to like so much."

"Unless he knows more, stronger magic", Willow pointed out a possibly fatal flaw in that simple plan, sighing when she received not all too impressed looks from both her girlfriend and her best friend in reply.

"Come on", she then added, "you know this can be dangerous…"

"Well, yeah", Pat finally agreed, to the redhead's relief, only to shatter that again with her next words. "Maybe you should teach those girls some defensive spells after all…"

With a sigh, the witch nodded, even though she still wasn't all too happy about that; the three women quickly agreed about keeping the fact that now, the killer might find them in the house secret for now, then the redhead got up and left to join the girls in the living room, knowing that if she wanted to teach them anything, she had to start as soon as possible.


	9. Chapter 9

Three hours later, Willow felt as drained as she normally only did after really challenging spells, barely managing to make her way upstairs and into the bedroom where Pat was waiting for her by now, yawning heartily while she slowly walked down the hallway, then entered the room, smiling weakly at the questioning look the demon was giving her from her place on the bed, the book she had been reading while she'd waited for the redhead to join her now in her lap, for the moment forgotten.

"Did they learn anything?" Pat now wanted to know while Willow closed the door behind herself, then nodded, moving over to the bed and sitting down on the edge, smiling slightly when immediately, the taller woman moved to sit behind her and started massaging her shoulders, clearly sensing how tired her lover was now.

"Well, not all of them", the witch then corrected herself, leaning her head forward for easier access when Pat's fingers moved to her neck, "Jackie has potential, you know, the cocky one with green and blue hair, and so does Gabby. Also, Veronica and Sue did quite well, the others, well… not so much."

"Four who might be helpful, then", Pat stated the obvious, "well, I guess that's more than you expected, right?"

"Yes", the witch admitted, "but depending on how much magic he knows, that still might not be enough…"

"Wow", the demon gave back, sounding slightly astonished now, "you're really creeped out about that now, huh? You think he's that powerful?"

"I have no idea, that's what bothers me", the redhead sighed out, closing her eyes and wincing when her girlfriend's fingers found a particularly tense spot and started working on it.

"Might be that he knows just that barrier spell", she then added, as soon as the pain had faded away again, "and that I'm worrying for nothing. On the other hand, he might also be quite powerful though…"

"Not as powerful as you though", Pat demonstrated quite the confidence in her partner's abilities, "and don't forget, he'll also have to deal with a demon and a Slayer."

"Unless he knows some little instant knock-out trick like that annoying assassin did", Willow reminded her of that unpleasant event, smiling slightly at the snort the demon let out behind her in reply to that.

"Let's hope he doesn't", she then mumbled, moving her hands to the redhead's shoulders again to work on the tense muscles there, "and that, if he really has such a nasty card up his sleeve, it will only work on me and not on Buffy or you."

"At least this time, I'll know you're not dead", Willow gave back, making the taller woman chuckle and nod; then, they both fell silent, the demon concentrating on massaging the last few knots away while the redhead enjoyed the backrub, closing her eyes in content, now that all the painful tenseness was gone.

"Thanks", she sighed out when her partner stopped the massage five minutes later, "I really needed that…"

"Hm-hmm", Pat let out behind her in reply, giving her just a second to wonder if her partner had lost her ability to speak now – before she realized what the demon was up to as her hair was moved aside once more to expose her neck, the taller woman's lips on the sensitive skin moments later.

"Oh", she brought out in surprise and delight, "are you sure this is a good idea…? What if one of the girls hears…?"

"I'll keep you quiet", Pat promised her in reply; she took another moment to consider if this would be possible, then smiled and changed her position on the bed so she was facing her partner, all worries about the girls hearing them forgotten when their lips met for a passionate kiss seconds later.

* * *

Several hours later, the house was quiet, all of the girls slumbering soundly, just like Buffy and Willow; the only one who was awake was Pat, the demon sitting at the window of the bedroom and looking out into the night, not sure why she found herself unable to sleep, but not really minding, either – as a demon, she could go without sleep longer than regular humans could, and knew that a single night of less than eight hours of slumbering wouldn't really have any negative effects on her.

From time to time, she glanced at the bed where her partner was slumbering soundly, smiling slightly each time her gaze fell on the witch; once more, she was thankful for her increased night vision, which allowed her to make out the redhead's features without needing light, and also made watching the area outside much easier. Once more, her gaze moved back to the window and to the area outside; the streets were as quiet as they should be at this time, briefly making her ask herself if the people of Sunnydale finally were learning and were staying inside after dark.

The sound of Willow moving more than a slumbering person should on the bed distracted her from those thoughts, and she looked over to the bed again, smiling slightly when she saw the witch open her eyes and look around confused for a moment before she spotted the taller woman at the window, sounding tired, but curious when she addressed her. "Why are you there at the window and not here in bed with me? Can't sleep?"

"Nope, and I don't even know why", the demon sighed out in reply, smiling slightly moments later when Willow patted the bed next to her invitingly.

"Maybe some cuddling will make that easier for you", the redhead smiled, making the taller woman nod before she got up from her – not all too comfortable – seat on the windowsill and made her way to the bed; lifting the blanket so she could join her beneath it, the witch waited until her partner had made herself comfortable, then snuggled up to her, a content sigh coming from her when she was taken into a tender embrace.

Hoping that being so close to her loved one would make it easier for her to get some sleep, Pat tried to do just that; a minute later though, a low thump coming from downstairs tore her out of the light dozing state she had managed to get in, and she frowned to herself, feeling how Willow tensed up in her embrace at the same moment.

"Did you hear that?" the witch whispered, making the black haired woman nod – before she realized that her lover couldn't see as well as she did in the dark and thus verbalized her agreement. "Yeah… Let's hope it was just one of the girls bumping into something on her way to the bathroom or something…"

As if to make sure that this hope was shattered, another thump came, much louder this time – and then, one of the girls shrieked in panic, prompting both Willow and Pat to almost jump out of the bed, both of them momentarily glad that they had taken the time to change into their pyjamas after their moment of intimacy while they rushed to the door, managing to get into each other's way as they hurried to leave the room.

After a brief hassle, Pat finally opened the door and was the first one to step outside; with Willow close behind her, she ran down the hallway and to the stairs, only to be forced into a quick standstill as Gabby came rushing up the stairs, her eyes wide and filled with panic and terror.

"He's here!" she cried out as she spotted the witch and the demon, "stop him, please, stop him!"

Behind Willow, the doors leading to the bedrooms of Buffy and Dawn opened and the sisters stepped into the hallway, with surprisingly identical sleepy looks on their face; then, they spotted the panicking Gabby and both were wide awake within seconds, Buffy taking command without even thinking about it.

"Dawn, stay here with Gabby", she ordered, glad when her sister nodded at once and didn't even try to argue, the Slayer's gaze moving to her friends seconds after Dawn's agreement. "You two, come downstairs with me, now."

"No need to say that twice", Pat muttered, already hurrying down the stairs, Willow and Buffy following her suit; the moment they reached the bottom, all three of them spotted the man standing in the brightly lit living room, the knife Willow had felt through her visions glinting in his hand, his eyes darting back and forth as he tried to figure out after which girl to go first.

To the great dismay of all three, he already had managed to wound one of them, one of the girls Willow had been unable to teach anything to, thanks to lack of potential; she laid on the ground at his feet, clutching at her stomach and whimpering softly, blood seeping through her fingers and staining the carpet. Several of the other girls had been smart enough to run out of the room and find hiding places somewhere else in the house; two of them had frozen up with shock and terror though, just standing there and staring, one of them letting out small, breathless noises.

"Hey!" Buffy snapped, successfully gaining the killer's attention, "why don't you go after someone your own size?"

For a moment, this clearly confused the man, since Buffy obviously was not his size; then, he decided that it didn't really matter, bringing up his knife slightly while he charged at the Slayer, without letting out as much as the tiniest sound. Without even fully realizing it, both Buffy and Pat slid into their fighting stances, their feet planted slightly apart for a better stand; they brought up their fists, but before Buffy could try to land a punch, she had to move quickly to avoid getting the knife into her stomach as well, dodging the stab in the last second, the knife cutting nothing but thin air.

Taking the chance given by how much the man was focusing on Buffy, Pat moved to get behind him, then tried to get him into a grip that would make him unable to use his knife; figuring that the two were doing alright so far, Willow decided that for now, her help wasn't needed, and hurried to check on the wounded girl, her heartbeat speeding up even more when she saw the injury the poor girl had taken.

"You'll be alright", she tried to give her some comfort while she quickly tore off a piece of her pyjama top, then gently moved the girl's hand away from the wound so she could press the cloth on it in an attempt to stop the bleeding, "they'll stop him, you'll be taken to the hospital and you'll be—"

Before she could even finish her sentence, she heard how Buffy let out a startled cry, then the sound of a body hitting something solid; upon turning her head, she spotted the Slayer down on the ground, half sitting, half lying, her back against the wall which had stopped her short flight.

With her eyes widening, Willow remembered the magic barrier she had encountered when she had tried to locate the girls the killer had kidnapped; cursing herself for forgetting this crucial detail; before she could call out to her best friend and girlfriend though to warn them, Pat had moved forward again, clearly not letting the fact that her try to get a hold on the man had failed stop her.

Snarling, she brought up her fists again, her gaze focused on the knife, anticipating a slash or stab attack; instead of using the weapon though, the man moved his free hand in an almost careless gesture, the demon letting out a cry which was a mixture of surprise and pain when seconds later, something which felt like a giant fist hit her in the upper body and sent her flying until she landed on the living room table, the piece of furniture breaking beneath her at the impact.

"The magic!" Willow finally managed to cry out while both Buffy and Pat struggled to their feet again, "be careful, he's powerful!"

The moment she had said the last word, the man's head whipped around and he stared at her; and as their eyes met, she felt a chill run up and down her spine, her eyes widening as she saw the pure hatred and the darkness in his gaze. With his eyes narrowing, the man brought up his free hand again, the knife he still held in the other one seemingly forgotten; realizing what he was about to do, Willow tried to conjure up a shield that would protect her from his attack, but before she even could think about the right spell to do so, the magic hit her, the witch crying out in pain as she was flung backwards until one of the living room cupboards stopped her harshly.

Letting out a low growl, Pat charged at him again, the danger he might be for her forgotten the moment she had seen that he had dared to hurt her girlfriend; this time, she didn't even bother to try and punch him, but simply tackled him, the man reacting just a second too late to stop her as she flung herself against him and they both went down, the demon grabbing the wrist of his knife-holding hand while they were still falling and twisting it harshly, prompting him to let go of his weapon.

"That was a mistake, buddy", she growled at him while pulling back her fist to finally land a punch, "no one harms my girlfriend…"

She had expected him to try and wriggle out from beneath her, or maybe use his legs to throw her off; what she hadn't been expecting was that he just smiled in reply to her threat – before his hand shot upwards, catching her fist in mid-punch, his smile widen slightly when he started applying pressure and the bones in the demon's hand cracked audibly. Holding back the urge to shout in pain, Pat gave her best to pull her hand free before he'd end up breaking it; and then, Willow was next to him, her eyes flashing with anger as she grabbed his arm, a bolt of lightning rushing down and hitting him seconds later.

The only reaction this got was that he let go of the demon, but still, he remained mute, not even grimacing in pain or acknowledging the fact that he had been hurt in any other way; instead, he grabbed the front of the demon's pyjama and pushed her off himself with all his might, making sure to shove her against her girlfriend, both of them ending up on the ground.

Realizing what he was intending to do, Buffy moved to stop him, but ended up being too slow; the man still took the time to pick up his knife, then rushed towards the front door, vanishing into the night moments later, the Slayer deciding against following him after a moment of considering her options and hurrying to check on her friends, her heart still beating up to her throat in the aftermath of the unexpected attack and the fight which had followed.


	10. Chapter 10

Once Willow had reassured herself of the fact that her girlfriend's hand hadn't been broken, and that thus, Pat wouldn't need her healing abilities for herself, she quickly pulled the demon to where the wounded girl still laid on the ground; to the relief of all of them, the girl was still alive, even though her breaths were coming in short, pained gasps by now and she looked as if she might pass out any second.

"Don't worry", Willow soothingly told her while Pat knelt down next to her and grasped her hand, "you'll be as good as new in a few minutes…"

They both were so focused on the hurt girl that they didn't even notice how the rest of the Wicca group joined them in the living room again, now that the danger was over; huddling close together, the girls watched in silence how Willow started mumbling the spell, all of them wondering what was going on and if it wouldn't be smarter to call an ambulance – and all of them letting out amusingly identical gasps of surprise when Pat's free hand flamed up after Willow had stopped talking, the girls watching in astonishment how the wound their friend had taken slowly started to close.

"Wow", Jackie whispered, grabbing the arm of the girl closest to her for support, "am I imagining that, or is it really happening?"

"It is", Buffy reassured her, "that spell has saved our hides a few times already by now."

"Why is her hand on fire?" Gabby whispered, without taking her eyes off the three for a single second; smirking, the Slayer told her that she'd explain that later, making the younger girl nod, her eyes still wide and fascinated as she watched how the wound healed completely and the flames which had been flickering on Pat's free hand died down, the demon letting go of the girl the moment she could be sure the healing was done.

"No, don't", Willow stopped the girl when she tried to sit up right away, "you still lost quite a bit of blood, take it easy."

"That was amazing", the girl brought out in reply, staring up at the couple with something close to reverence in her eyes, "I thought I'd die…! How did you do that…?"

"Long story short, Pat's a demon with an exceptionally high healing factor, and she just borrowed that to you", Willow explained as an answer, smiling slightly when the girl gave the demon a startled, even slightly scared look, prompting Pat to raise an eyebrow.

"I'm not evil though", she then found it necessary to reassure the girl; behind her, Jackie took a step closer to the small group of three, looking as if she wasn't sure what to think when she spoke up. "You're not bullshitting us? You're a _demon_? I thought that only exists in comic books and horror movies!"

"Just like witches, huh?" Pat shot back, smirking when the girl had no reply to that and only could stare at her; coming to her feet again, she grimaced at the pain in her by now noticeable swollen hand, nodding when Buffy asked her if she wanted an ice pack for that. While the blonde went off to get that, Willow asked Gabby to tell them anything they remembered about the attack; to their dismay, it wasn't much, the younger girl letting her know that she had woken up to the sound of the door opening and that she had seen the man enter, and then it all had turned into chaos when he had attacked poor Kate and had wounded her.

"That guy knew a few pretty mean spells, didn't he", Jackie threw in, still looking at Pat as if she expected her to jump up and try to eat her any second, "and it was so creepy that he was quiet all the time! He never said a word!"

"That was weird, yeah", Pat agreed, ignoring the way all the girls except for Gabby were staring at her by now, "he didn't even make a sound when my lovely girlfriend decided to fry his ass."

"That was so unsettling", Willow grimaced, "I thought he'd at least groan or something. For a moment, I wasn't even sure if I hurt him, but then he luckily let go of you…"

"Yeah, luckily he did so instead of breaking my hand", Pat muttered, her good eye lighting up when Buffy returned with the ice pack and handed it to her.

"We'll need some strategy for fighting this guy", the Slayer stated as soon as the ice pack had been given to the demon and she was holding it against her hand, "obviously, raw strength isn't enough."

"Maybe we can help", Gabby threw in, "if Willow teaches us more spells, combat magic…"

"Knowing them won't be enough though", Buffy let her know, "it won't help much if you know them, but then don't use them, and instead just stand there and stare when he attacks again."

"And that isn't as easy as it may look", Willow added, "it actually takes a lot of willpower to use spells for hurting someone, especially if it's a human, like that guy."

"He hurt me", the girl who had been wounded by the killer spoke up, sounding a bit stronger already, "so I'll have no qualms to hurt him, even though you said I have no potential for magic. Give me a knife and I'll be good to go."

"So he can disarm you and use it on you?" Pat demanded to know, giving her a sceptical look, "you know, using a knife successfully takes skill too, it's not just hack and slay and you're all done."

"Whatever", the girl muttered in reply, coming to her feet again at last; realizing that it was still in the middle of the night, Willow decided to end this talk about violence and offense magic by telling the girls that they'd talk more about this tomorrow and that they all should get some rest now, glad when they all agreed at once.

"I don't think I'll be able to sleep after this scare", one of the girls which had ran off to hide muttered, even though she looked quite tired; Buffy reassured her that it would be okay, then told the girls to shout in case something should happen again before she made her way back upstairs with both Willow and Pat, all three of theme ager to get some sleep now that the danger had been fought off for the night.

* * *

In the next morning, Buffy once more prepared breakfast for all the girls, with the help of both Willow and Pat; once the girls started waking up, they helped as much as they could as well, something which was made considerably harder by the fact that, once they all had gotten up, the kitchen was getting quite crowded. To the Slayer's relief, the girls retreated one by one again though as soon as the breakfast was done and they had helped themselves to food and coffee; and soon, it was just Buffy, Willow and Pat who remained there, sitting down at the table with their own portions of breakfast and coffee cups.

"So", Buffy spoke up after a while, "are you gonna teach those girls some combat magic?"

"Yeah, I will", Willow gave back, to the obvious surprise of the Slayer, "I'll go get some stuff from the Magic Box first and then I'll teach them some small, but hopefully useful spells…"

"Nothing which requires good aim, please", Buffy sighed, "I don't want wayward lightning bolts flying around in here."

"I'll keep that in mind", Willow smiled, then looked at her partner and asked if she'd come along to the shop; immediately, Pat nodded, then grunted something about crazy killers out there into her coffee cup, her inability to speak properly making both Buffy and Willow smirk.

"Take care when you go there", the Slayer unnecessarily advised, "we know nothing about this guy yet, so…"

"We'll be fine", Willow reassured her, "at least we know he doesn't like that lightning spell, and I can use that quite often before I get drained, it's an easy one…"

"An easy one you will not teach to those girls", Buffy reminded her of her fear of lightning, making the witch nod once more; then, they all finished their breakfast, Willow and Pat moving back to the bedroom afterwards to change into clothing suitable for going to the store.

"Let's hope that guy won't come here while we're gone", the demon showed that by now, after breakfast, she was capable of coherent speech; grimacing, Willow nodded, momentarily even considering blowing off the trip to the shop, then telling herself that this was silly and that they couldn't all hole themselves up in the house now, just sitting there and waiting for the guy to come back.

"We better hurry", she still said, making the demon nod; they quickly finished changing, then made their way back downstairs, calling out to Buffy that they'd leave now and that they'd be back soon, the Slayer calling back to them that it was okay and that they should hurry. "We will!" Willow reassured her, then stepped outside with the demon; automatically, they both looked left and right, then exchanged a brief, but relieved look when they couldn't spot the man who had attacked them the night before.

As always when they were going somewhere together, Willow grasped her partner's hand, making the taller woman give her a brief smile; the couple took the time to share a brief kiss, then they started walking, the demon lighting up a cigarette after just a few steps and taking a deep drag from it.

"I'm not smoking enough at that house", she explained at the amused look Willow gave her, the witch giggling in reply and shaking her head before she reminded her girlfriend of the fact that technically, Buffy had declared her house as a non-smoking zone and that thus, each cigarette she smoked there was one too much anyway, no matter how much of them she enjoyed in that place.

"She must have noticed by now that I smoked and didn't reprimand me", Pat shrugged that quite good point off, "so I guess it's okay."

"She doesn't reprimand you because she knows it wouldn't help", Willow smirked, "she knows you well enough by now, you know."

"That is so not true", Pat protested, "if she'd tell me to stop, I would! I'm not that—" She fell silent when Willow grabbed her arm, the witch's eyes widening; a second later, the demon's good eye did the same as she saw who had been waiting for them in the middle of the street behind the corner they just had rounded, the man smiling cheerfully at them and raising his hand to give them a mocking little wave.

Without taking her gaze away from the man for the blink of an eye, Pat dropped her cigarette and stepped on it to put it out; she clenched her fists, fighting down the urge to flame up, knowing that this was too dangerous in bright daylight, in the middle of the street. Still smiling, the man dropped his hand and started moving towards them; automatically, Pat stepped in front of her girlfriend, starting to growl lowly in the back of her throat as she watched the man advance, determined to let him make the first move with the plan to dodge it and thus put him off-balance.

With his smile widening slightly, the man moved one hand into the pocket of his jacket; not sure what to expect, the demon tensed up, her gaze flickering back and forth between his face and his hand while behind her, Willow gave her best to fight down the fear that wanted to blank out her mind, well aware of the fact that she might have to use her magic any moment now.

In front of her, Pat raised her fists a bit further, getting ready to fight off any move he might make; and then, he suddenly sped up, his hand coming out of his pocket holding a transparent glass bottle, the demon just having time to notice that his smile was widening – before he moved the bottle upwards roughly, splashing the content into her face.

The blink of an eye later, searing pain rushed through her, a kind of pain she never had felt before; thanks to her nature, she had no idea what it felt like to get burned, unaware of the fact that burning her was exactly what the holy water the man had thrown into her face was doing. With her screams turning into pained groans, the demon went down on her knees, clutching at her face; by now, the man had a wide grin on his face, this being the last thing Pat saw before he brought the bottle up again and poured the rest of its content down on her, the pain increasing momentarily before the world went dark around her.


	11. Chapter 11

"Alright, that was good", Buffy complimented Jackie on the successful break of her hold on the slightly taller blonde, "just try to remember what you did now in case that guy ever grabs you from behind, and do it again. If you feel brave, you then can try to kick his legs, that move will put him off balance and he might fall down."

"And if not, he'll punch me in the snot?" Jackie asked, raising an eyebrow; smirking, Buffy shrugged, then replied with "Maybe", the sound of the door opening behind her distracting her from what she had planning to say next, namely that it was smart in that case to roll with the punch, in case it couldn't be blocked or dodged, to take some of its force away.

While turning around to look at who was entering, Buffy still had time to wonder about how fast Willow and Pat had returned from the shop; then, her eyes went wide and her mouth got dry within a second as her gaze fell on the demon and she saw the horrible burns which were covering her face, part of her throat and her hands, noticing in the back of her mind that there were wet spots on her clothing, showing that something which had been poured over her had caused those awful injuries.

"Jesus", the blonde brought out after a moment of shocked silence, getting out of her trance to rush over to Pat and steady her seconds before her knees gave in beneath her, "what happened? Where's Willow?"

"I don't know", the demon brought out while Buffy led her into the living room and made her sit down on the couch there, then sent the girl nearest to her to get some water, "it was the guy, he poured something into my face and it hurt… and when I came around again she was gone…"

"He took her?" Gabby fearfully asked, looking at the taller woman uneasily, flinching when she received a dark look in reply.

"Probably", Buffy had to agree, fighting against the dread that wanted to take over her mind, knowing it would make proper thinking impossible, "if he'd wanted to kill her, he could have done so right there…"

"He could have killed me, too", Pat mumbled, staring at the burns on her hands with disbelief, only realizing fully now what had happened – and how lucky she had been that whatever the liquid had been hadn't caused the loss of her good eye.

"I fucked up", she added after a moment, giving the Slayer such a depressed look that it made her heart clench up, "I couldn't protect her…"

"If he used what I think he did, I'm not surprised", Buffy gave back, placing a reassuring hand on the demon's shoulder, "no one can expect you to fight after a shower with holy water…"

"Holy water", Pat echoed, sounding a bit stunned now, "you think that's what it was…?"

"It's all I can think of", the blonde admitted in reply, "acid would have caused worse wounds, and fire doesn't make sense… What did it look like?"

"Well, it was transparent", Pat muttered, pondering the unpleasant consequence the killer's use of holy water against her had, "but how did he know…? That it would work on me, I mean…?"

"He knows what you are, obviously", Buffy replied, her gaze darkening, "and now, he's got Willow, our only really powerful witch…"

"We need to do some spell or something, and find her", the black haired woman gave back, now sounding as if she was close to panic again, "before he hurts her, or worse…"

"Did you forget about the magical barrier?" Jackie threw in, to her credit not flinching when Pat gave her a look that would have killed her, had looks been capable of doing that, "as Buffy said, Willow was the most powerful of us, and that spell kept her from locating anyone, too. How are we supposed to do anything?"

"I don't know!" Pat almost shouted, now making Jackie flinch after all, "but we have to do something! He's got Willow!"

"Calm down", Buffy snapped, sensing how close the black haired woman was to going over the edge, not wanting to imagine what might happen then.

"We'll figure something out", she went on when the demon stared at her in disbelief, clearly having trouble to understand that reaction, "but first, you'll go somewhere more private and heal those burns, you'll be of no use if one punch will be enough to knock you down."

For a moment, Buffy wasn't sure if Pat would listen to her, the taller woman staring up at her with a mixture of desperation and anger in her gaze; then, she suddenly and abruptly rose from her seat and left the room without another word, Buffy letting out the breath she had been holding the moment the door had fallen close behind the demon.

"Man, for a moment, I thought she'd hit you", one of the girls commented, making the blonde nod; she took a second to tell the girls to stay here before she made her way to the kitchen and picked up the phone there, quickly dialling Giles' number, hoping that he would be able to help them with figuring out a solution for the dire new situation.

* * *

Half an hour later, the Brit had arrived at Buffy's house, along with Xander and Anya, to the obvious surprise of both Pat and the Slayer; since the couple looked awfully worried though, none of them made a comment about it, merely offering them a seat in the kitchen, Buffy taking the time to explain that the living room was crowded with Wicca wanna-be's before she let Pat take over and gave the demon a chance to tell the three what had happened.

"Well", Giles spoke up slowly as soon as Pat had finished and Buffy had confirmed that she indeed had been hurt by holy water, but that her healing factor had taken care of that, "if Willow couldn't perform a locator spell successfully, I'm afraid I won't be able to do it, either. Keep in mind I'm not nearly as powerful as she is."

"But there has to be _something_ you can do", the demon gave back, almost pleading by now, to the Watcher's obvious discomfort, "come on, don't tell me you're not having any ideas! You're the smart guy here!"

"I've already been pondering our options on the way here", Giles reassured her in reply, "but there is only one possibility I have been able to come up with, and I'm not all too sure it will work."

"What?" Pat nearly snapped, holding back the urge to jump up and grab him, "what is it? Spit it out, man!"

"Please try to calm down", the Brit replied primly, removing his glasses and beginning to clean them while giving her a strict look, "I understand that you are upset, we all are, but it is important that we keep a clear head now. Do you remember how Willow found that assassin who was after Buffy and used that annoying little finger-snapping trick on you?"

"Of course I do", the demon grumbled, finding her cigarettes and lighting one of them up, prompting Buffy to get up so she could open one of the windows, the Slayer not telling her to put the cancer stick out though, "she followed some sort of magical trail that assassin left. Wait, you think you can do that?"

"As I said, I'm not all too sure", Giles sighed out, "but it's worth a try, and it's the only solution I could think of on such short notice. I might need the help of both of you, Pat and Anya, along with some of those girls from the Wicca group."

"They'll help", Buffy reassured him, "I think they actually are quite eager to do so. What do you think the chances for success are?"

"I don't know", the Watcher had to admit, to Pat's obvious dismay, "I've never done the spell necessary to make the trail visible before, and when I asked Willow about it, she couldn't tell me much, seeing how she was fuelled by those dark powers within her back then…"

"Let's just give it a try, okay?" Xander spoke up for the first time since he had come here, apart from the short greeting he had given the others, making them all look at him. "We're wasting time here with talking while this guy could be doing God knows what to Willow right now. Giles, do you need any supplies from the shop for the spell?"

"I'll have to look at what Willow has here first", the Watcher gave back, looking at the demon afterwards and asking her if she knew where the witch had put her stash of supplies; nodding, Pat got up from her seat to get them, the rest of the group exchanging uncomfortable, nervous glances as they all wondered if the spell would work and if they would be able to keep their friend from the fate the other girls had suffered.


	12. Chapter 12

At the same time, unaware of the fact that her friends already were trying to find ways to free her, Willow found herself in the tiny room she had seen through her visions upon coming back around; immediately, fear tried to take over her mind and to send her into panic, the redhead forcing herself to take slow, deep breaths as she fought to keep her calm, knowing it wouldn't be of any use to freak out now.

Closing her eyes, she tried to will away the pain in her head, her mind picking up speed as she gave her best to remember what had happened; the last thing she was sure about was the awful sight of her lover going down after the killer's second attack, then all she could remember was a bright flash of light, followed by pain and darkness as whatever he had attacked her with had knocked her out.

Momentarily, her heart skipped a beat as she asked herself how bad exactly her girlfriend had been hurt by the vile methods of the man; then, she told herself that it wouldn't help her to ponder this now, that it only would help to increase her fear and panic and that she could worry about this as soon as she had gotten out of this dreadful place.

Even though her head still hurt and her heart still was beating much faster than it should, the witch forced herself to come to her feet, briefly looking around the room to see if she could spot anything useful; to her dismay, it was empty though, no object on the ground or the wall she might have used to defend herself.

Mumbling a few not so nice words about the man who had taken her here to herself, she moved over to the heavy steel door at the opposite wall – which only took her two steps anyway, thanks to how tiny said room was – and tried the door's handle, not surprised to find it locked; due to the lack of windows in the room, this was her only way out though, and she took in a deep breath as she tried to ignore her pain so she could focus on the task she'd have to perform next, not willing to wait until her captor might unlock the door, come to her and do God knew what to her.

For a second, she felt glad about the fact that at least, the naked light bulb hanging from the ceiling was illuminating the room and thus made what she planned to do easier for her; since she couldn't see a light switch anywhere, she figured that it had to be outside, the thought of the killer controlling when she'd have light sending cold shivers up and down her spine, well aware of what being stuck in total darkness could do to someone's mind.

Once again, she forced such useless thoughts out of her mind, taking in another deep breath before she brought both hands up and placed them on the cool steel of the door; closing her eyes, she gave her best to imagine the lock that was keeping her from opening the door, visualizing how the bolts moved, how her magic pushed them back, conjuring up the sound of the lock clicking open in her mind… With a flash of bright, blue lightning, accompanied by a shockingly loud, sharp popping sound, Willow was thrown backwards and against the wall behind her, starts exploding in front of her eyes when the back of her head connected harshly with the concrete; groaning, she slumped down against the wall, taking a few moments to recover before she tried to figure out what just had happened.

Upon looking at the door again, she was astonished to see the rather big scorch marks where her hands had been when she had tried the spell; looking down on her hands, she was glad to see that at least, she hadn't been burned, even though that gladness when she realized what those scorch marks and the pain she had felt meant. "Dammit", the redhead whispered to herself, momentarily feeling close to panicking again; squeezing her eyes shut, she tried to concentrate on the barrier the man had put on the door, gritting her teeth when the mere action of trying to focus on the magic caused pain to flash through her head again. Stunned by how powerful that man had to be, Willow came to her feet again, moving closer to the door, carefully, as if it might lunge at her any second; once more fighting against the panic that wanted to take over, she hesitatingly reached out, then placed two fingers of one hand against the cold steel, closing her eyes again as she tried to determine which spell had been used on the door and if there was a way to break it.

Giving her best to ignore the pain that raced up her arm, she grit her teeth again, sweat starting to form on her brow and slowly rolling down her cheeks; to her dismay, she only could figure out that it was a very strong and powerful spell, one she never had encountered before and thus had no experience with, her heartbeat speeding up again, no matter how hard she tried to keep her calm.

After another minute of useless scanning of the spell, she finally gave up on trying to open the door with magic, realizing that she'd only end up getting hurt again; stepping back from the door, she squeezed her eyes shut once more as she tried to keep her calm, conjuring up an image of her partner in her mind, telling herself that Pat wouldn't freak out in such a situation and that she had the same strength.

Before she could convince herself of that though, footsteps suddenly came up outside, her heart beating up to her throat again as she listened to them approach; she just had a few seconds to wonder if the man had noticed her tries to break the spell, then the sound of a key turning in the lock came up and the door swung open, the man who had taken her here smiling down on her a moment later.

* * *

Since she knew that Giles, Anya and the four girls who had volunteered to help needed silence so they could concentrate, Pat gave her best to remain quiet as she watched them prepare everything for the spell; it had been planned that she'd help, as well, but Giles soon had realized that she was too worked up and upset to concentrate properly, and thus had made her step back and just watch, to her great dismay.

"You all memorized the words of the spell?" Giles asked as soon as they all had sat down; the girls wordlessly nodded in reply, throwing nervous glances from the pile of ingredients to the Watcher, prompting him to give them a hopefully calming smile before he went on. "Good. We'll go through them once more before we perform the spell for real. Please remember that the ingredients I put on the table will be disintegrated into a cloud of dust once we did the spell correctly and that we all have to blow on it in perfect unison, or the spell won't work."

"That will look so stupid", Jackie muttered, making the Watcher smile at her; behind him, Pat grit her teeth again as she waited for them to get started already, prompting Buffy to move up to her and place a reassuring hand on her arm, giving her a calming look when the demon glanced down on her.

"It'll be okay", the Slayer whispered, relieved when the taller woman nodded after a second; then, they both looked at the group at the table again, watching how Giles went through the words of the spell with them once more, nodding in approval once he had reassured himself that they all had memorized them correctly.

"Join hands, please", he then told them, "so that we are forming a circle. Then start intonating the spell at my signal, remember that we all must say it together in perfect sync or it will not work."

Now looking nervous again, the girls did as the Watcher had said, each of them grasping the hands of the ones to her left and right; Giles took in a deep breath, then nodded at them, and they all started chanting, their voices rising involuntarily as they progressed with the spell. With her heart beating up to her throat, Pat watched them, hoping that the spell would work out as it was supposed to; the Brit had warned them that the barrier the killer had used to stop the locator spell from taking effect might also keep them from finding the trail his magic had left, and the demon was well aware of the fact that, if this didn't work, they had no other ideas about how to find her partner, not even wanting to imagine what might happen to her then.

Noticing her nervousness and her dismay, Buffy gave her another worried look, hoping she wouldn't end up freaking out and thus mess up the spell; she gave the demon's arm a reassuring squeeze, making her look down on her again, the expression on her face causing the Slayer's heart to clench up. Knowing that speaking out loud would destroy the concentration and probably would mess up the spell, the blonde silently repeated her previous reassurance, mouthing "It'll be okay" at the black haired woman; after just staring at her for a few more moments, the demon merely looked back at the table, this time not even reacting to the Slayer's try to calm her down, her fists still clenched at her side.

After a moment, Buffy returned her attention to the group doing the spell again as well; she held her breath as they reached the last words of the spell, the ingredients on the table exploding into a cloud of dust the moment the final syllable had been said, the group leaning forward in perfect unison and blowing on it with all their might, then flinching back when the dust began to glow and started to move, forming a thin, brightly lit line which spread away from the table and to the front door.

"It worked!" Buffy cried out, astonished, only now realizing that deep down, she hadn't been so sure about the success of the spell; quickly, she grabbed the sword she had readied for herself and the axe she had taken along for the demon, handing it to her before they both hurried outside without another word, the group remaining where they were, trying to recover after the strain doing the spell had put on them, smiling at each other as they watched the line their magic had created, all of them visibly proud about their success.


	13. Chapter 13

When the killer had entered the room, Willow momentarily had been relieved about two facts – he hadn't had the knife with him, at least not somewhere where she'd been able to see it, and that now, she could try to use some magic on him and escape. Before she even had had the chance though to bring up her hand and do just that, he had smirked at her again, clearly aware of what she was planning; and then, his eyes had narrowed, and moments later, pain had rushed through her as she got thrown backwards and against the wall, once more seeing stars as the back of her head connected with it again.

Now, just a few minutes later, she found herself up against the wall, unable to move; it stunned and scared her how powerful the magic of this man was, her mind running wild as she tried to figure out how to get out of this and how they were supposed to fight him if he could make them all immobile so easily.

"Stop it", she pressed out, even finding it difficult to talk; to her endless dismay, the man just smiled, then moved up to her until he was close enough to her that she could feel his hot breath on her face. Giving her best to hide her fear from him, she held his gaze, still desperately trying to move and finding herself unable to do; whatever spell he was using on her, it kept her almost fully immobile, just allowing her to talk and to breathe, her heartbeat speeding up as she couldn't help but ask herself if he'd be capable of stopping her inner organs from working as well and thus kill her without leaving a trace.

As if he had read her thoughts, the killer's smile widened slightly; he looked down on her for a few more seconds, smiling his unsettling, creepy smile at her, then reached up and placed two fingers on her chest, right over her heart, smirking even more when he felt how fast it was beating.

"What are you doing?" the redhead tried again, ignoring the fact that so far, she hadn't heard the man speak a single word, "what do you want?"

Again, he didn't respond to her words in any way; instead, he pressed down harder on her chest, his eyes briefly darkening – before tremendous pain flashed through her, making her gasp as she suddenly found herself unable to breathe, knowing that she would have fallen if his spell hadn't kept her up against the wall.

"Stop it", she gasped, already knowing that he wouldn't, the smirk on his face showing that he was enjoying this a lot, "please…"

In response, he put even more pressure on her chest, the pain increasing even further; squeezing her eyes shut, Willow couldn't help herself, but just had to let out a breathless, pained cry, her reaction making the man's eyes light up – before he pulled his hand back and took a step back from her, the spell which had been keeping her immobile ending the moment her pain ended, the witch falling down to her knees a second later, gasping heavily.

Going down on one knee in front of her, the killer grabbed her jaw roughly and forced her head up, making her look at him; he gave her the chance to see the hate and darkness in his gaze again, and suddenly she knew why he was staring at her that way, could see the warning in his eyes that he would do this to her again, should she try to use her magic once more. Nodding, as if to confirm her realization, the killer gave her another smirk – before he suddenly lashed out and backhanded her across the face, hard enough to send her to the ground fully, his smirk widening at the cry she let out.

He looked at her for a few more moments, just long enough to make her wonder if he'd hit her again or use another one of those dreadful spells; then, he straightened up and left the room without bothering to look at her once more, the door slamming close behind him. Slowly, still feeling that awful pain in her chest, Willow sat up and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily; she could feel blood trickle down her chin from where her lip had been split by his hit, and her chest felt as if someone had somehow reached inside and had twisted her heart and lungs around just for the fun of it.

Leaning her head against the wall, she closed her eyes, flinching when she heard the key turn in the lock as the man locked her up once more; and suddenly, she found herself unable to hold back her tears as she fully realized how hopeless her situation was, a sob escaping her while she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them, finally giving in to the fear and the panic she had felt ever since she had woken up here.

* * *

"I wonder if anyone else can see that", Pat commented as she walked at a brisk space with the Slayer right next to her, both of them focused on the glowing line that should lead them to the place where Willow was kept, "and, if they do, I hope they won't follow it."

"They won't bother to", Buffy reassured her, "don't forget, we are in Sunnydale, town with the people most experienced at selective perception. If someone sees it, they'll just ignore it."

"Good point", the demon had to admit, knowing that Buffy was right – after all, here she was, walking through town in bright daylight, following a glowing line, carrying a big, sharp axe in one hand while the woman next to her was armed with a smaller, but just as sharp sword, and no one was giving them as much as a second glance.

"I know", Buffy smirked, then focused on the line again, wondering how much longer they'd have to follow it until it would take them to the killer, "I've been living here long enough. Let's just hope that it really did work and that this fancy line here will take us where we want to go."

"Yeah", the demon sighed, briefly giving the axe to Buffy so she could light up a cigarette, then taking the weapon back, "and now I wish I knew more about this whole magic stuff, so I'd have an idea if it's possible to fake such a trail or something."

"We should ask Willow for some basic lessons as soon as we got her out", Buffy agreed, not even acknowledging the fact that they might come too late to get the witch out healthy and alive, "not that I hope it will be necessary, but it won't hurt…"

"Yeah", Pat nodded, taking a long drag from her cigarette before she went on. "Willow keeps scolding me anyway, about how I show so little interest in magic even though I'm, according to her, naturally inclined to it…"

"Well, your strengths lie more on the physical side", Buffy smirked, glad when the demon smiled as well – it was clear that she still was upset about the whole situation, but the fact that the spell had worked as it had been supposed to clearly had taken some of her dismay away, along with the fact that she now could take a more pro-active role again by following the magical trail and wasn't forced to just sit around and wait.

"Look", the Slayer now gained her attention, grabbing her arm, suddenly excited, "the trail ends over there, at that building… or does it go in there? I can't tell."

"Oh jeez, I hope it doesn't", Pat gave back, her good eye widening as she all at once realized a possibly fatal flaw in their plan, "or he'll be able to see it too and will know that we're coming…"

At hearing that, Buffy's eyes went wide as well; she stared at the demon in shock for a few moments, then suddenly sped up, not just walking fast anymore, but running, the taller woman doing the same after a second and quickly catching up to her again. Together, the two ran up to the quite unremarkably looking house the trail was leading them to; not bothering to even try to open the door the regular way, Buffy simply kicked it open the moment she had reached it, bringing up her sword as she stepped inside, the demon now close behind her, her axe readied for combat, as well.

To the dismay of both of them, they could still see the trail, the brightly glowing line leading through the small anteroom and then spreading all over the house, showing that the killer had been making good use of the rooms; for a moment, the two fighters were unsure of where to go, then Pat spoke up, keeping her voice low even though thanks to Buffy's way of opening the door, their presence had been made obvious to anyone who might be in the house, anyway. "Willow said that he's been keeping those girls in a small room, he also killed them there, but he didn't tie them up or gag them… I don't think such a room would be in the ground floor of the house."

"The cellar, then", Buffy showed that she had followed the demon's trail of thought, "let's split up and look for the stairs leading there…"

Nodding, Pat moved to the right while Buffy went the other way; they started opening doors, finding several to them useless rooms like the kitchen and the living room before the Slayer finally got the right one, calling out to the demon and prompting her to hurry to her side.

"We better be careful now", Buffy told her while they both peered down the dark stairway, "it seems he's not up here, but he might be down there…"

She didn't add that he might be down there and busy with torturing or even killing Willow, but both of them knew it was a possibility; thus, Pat just nodded, her grip on the axe tightening before she started to make her way down the stairs, once again glad about her abilities to see well in the dark which made it unnecessary to switch on the light and maybe alert the killer to their presence.

Behind her, Buffy squinted into the darkness, cursing the fact that she couldn't see as well as the demon; she knew that switching on the light wasn't an option though, not as long as they had no idea if the man was even down here.

"I hope he doesn't have a million rooms down here", Pat whispered in front of her while she reached the bottom of the stairs, finding herself looking at a wooden door in front of her and a hallway that curved to the right, the wall next to the stairway keeping her from seeing what might await them in said hallway.

"Stay behind me", she added, not seeing how Buffy nodded behind her; she took in a deep breath, then stepped around the corner, briefly relieved to see that the hallway in front of her was empty, making her wonder if the man was even at home.

Still with a tight grip on the axe, the demon took a moment to study the hallway, trying to figure out if her girlfriend was being held captive behind one of the several doors to her left and right; they all looked identical at the first look, unlike the one opposite of the stairway being made of solid steel instead of wood.

For a moment, she felt like just yelling her girlfriend's name and see if there'd be an answer, then realized that this wouldn't be exactly smart and forced the urge to shout back down; instead of yelling, she thus made her way to the door closest to her, just reaching for the handle when the key in the lock of another door at the far end of the hallway caught her eye. Immediately, she realized that this was the only door where the key was in the lock; with her heartbeat speeding up, she pointed the door out to Buffy, then quickly moved over to it, not even noticing how she held her breath as she turned the key and opened the door, at the same time excited and afraid about what she might find behind it.


	14. Chapter 14

When she heard the key turn in the lock, Willow shrank back against the wall, without even fully realizing what she was doing; she had stopped crying a while ago, but still her heart and mind were filled with fear, a feeling which only increased when the man stepped into the room again, the amused glint in his eyes not helping to take any of that fear away.

"I didn't do anything", she brought out in a trembling voice, hating how weak this made her appear and feel, but knowing that the smallest wrong move would only make her get hurt again, "what do you want now…?"

In response, the man raised one hand, making her flinch involuntarily as she anticipated another painful spell; instead, he moved his arm in a wide arch, the witch's eyes going wide again when moments later, a flickering square of bright light appeared in the air between the man and herself, an image appearing on it moments later, her breath getting caught in her throat when she recognized her girlfriend and her best friend, standing in some dark hallway, Pat just turning a key in a door that looked much like the one keeping her in this room.

With her heart beating up to her throat again, she noticed the glowing lines on the ground of said hallway, making her realize that her friends had performed some kind of spell to find her; she just had a moment to wonder where it had led them, if it hadn't taken them here, then the demon pushed the door open and a large, ferocious looking beast came bursting out of the room and tackled her, both of them ending up on the ground, a cry escaping Willow as she watched the scene with horror.

"No!" she shouted when she saw the beast open a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, then bite down; before she could see if her partner had been hurt though, the man snapped his fingers and the image was gone, a smile appearing on his face again as the witch stared at him wide-eyed, one of her hands coming up to cover her mouth.

Holding her gaze, he brought up his hand again, pointing his index finger at her for a second before he started moving it in complicated looking swirls; again, the redhead's eyes widened when glowing lines appeared, forming words in the air, making her wonder if this was the only way he could communicate with her and if he really was mute – or if it was just for show and he only remained quiet to freak her out.

_That attempt to rescue you didn't work out so well, did it? _the words in the air read, accompanied by another nasty smirk from the man; he waited long enough so he could be sure Willow had read them, then wiped them into nothingness with a quick move of his hand and started writing again, new words quickly forming in the air.

_I won't punish you for their indolence, no worries. Just wanted to make sure you_ all at once, Willow realized that he was looking at the words he was writing, and not at her; and within the blink of an eye, she let her instincts take over, catapulting herself forward and tackling him, his eyes briefly widening when her body crashed into his and he lost his footing, ending up on the ground beneath her.

Remembering the fact that she wasn't exactly a prize fist fighter, Willow grabbed his hair instead of punching him, pulling his head up and smashing it back down, against the concrete floor, as hard as she could; to her shock and dismay, this didn't seem to faze him much though, since he bared his teeth at her in a silent snarl, then grabbed her with one hand, the pain which rushed through her moments later making her cry out.

Determined not to let him stop her though, she grit her teeth as well, tightening her grip on him; instead of using physical violence once more, she made use of the lightning spell she had hurt him with earlier, glad to see that this was having a much better effect on him than the hit – his eyes widened again, and he let go of her, the pain stopping the moment his hand had vanished from her arm.

"My friends might not have been able to rescue me, but now, I'll rescue myself", she pressed out between grit teeth, increasing the strength of her spell so she'd hurt him even more, feeling how the dark powers she had absorbed so long ago stirred in the back of her mind, eager to be used, to show that man what she really could do, "and if that beast you hid there harmed my girlfriend, I'll make you pay…"

In response, he kept gritting his teeth in pain from the lightning that still shot through him; she noticed that he was blindly groping along with his pants with one hand, realizing a second too late what he was looking for, the knife slashing over her leg moments later, the pain breaking her concentration and forcing her to stop the spell.

Panting heavily and still snarling at her, the killer pulled the knife back and rammed it into her leg again, smiling a psychotic smile at her when she cried out in pain; then, she wiped that smile off his face again by grabbing his head with both hands, blocking out the pain as she unleashed the spell on him once more, his eyes rolling back into his head moments later as he couldn't take it and passed out.

Letting go of him again, Willow came to her feet, groaning at the pain in her leg; she could feel how the blood from the wounds started to soak her pants, some of it dripping to the floor as she limped away from the killer's unconscious body, knowing that she had to get out now before he'd wake up, well aware of how much energy she had put into the last lightning spell and that she wouldn't be able to do that again for an hour or two, not wanting to imagine what he might do to her if he'd end up waking up before she was far enough away from him and would capture her again.

* * *

When Pat had unlocked and opened that door, Buffy had been bracing herself for a lot of unpleasant options, among them finding her best friend seriously hurt or maybe even dead; what she hadn't been expecting though was a huge monster to come bursting out and tackle the demon, snarling and splattering saliva over her as it bared horribly sharp teeth and tried to tear out her throat.

With a startled yelp, Pat somehow managed to bring the axe up in time to make the dog-like thing bite the wooden handle instead of her throat; the strong jaws of the thing closed on it and easily bit through it, the sound of the wood breaking between the monster's teeth being enough to tear Buffy out of her shock. Bringing up the sword, the Slayer rushed forward, stabbing the sharp blade into the beast's body with all her strength; simultaneously, Pat did the same with the splintered end of the broken handle, snarling and growling at the thing as she rammed the wood upwards and felt it break the skin and enter muscle.

Letting out a high-pitched whimpering sound, the beast tried to get away, but neither the Slayer, nor the demon would let it; instead, Buffy pulled the sword out and brought it down again, the blade biting into the creature's neck and making it whine again while Pat let go of the useless piece of handle and swung the axe upwards, grim satisfaction on her face as her hit connected as well, slashing into the monster's throat.

With another whimper, the beast managed to move away a few steps, trembling visibly; then, it slumped to the ground and died, bright red blood seeping from its wounds and drying on the concrete while Buffy helped the demon to her feet and concernedly asked her if she was okay.

"Yeah I'm fine, it didn't bite me", Pat reassured her, then grimaced as she wiped a blob of saliva off her shirt and threw it on the ground.

"It just drooled on me", she added, sounding and looking so grossed out that Buffy couldn't help it, but just had to smile, "ew, gross! And why does that stink so bad? What has this thing been eating?"

"I think I know", Buffy gave back, her smile fading away from her face as she looked into the room where the monster had been locked up; next to a pile of just as bad smelling excrement, several pieces of clothing laid on the ground, torn and bloodied, the Slayer and the demon realizing in the same second that this was how the killer had gotten rid of the bodies.

"So, he kills them in some other place and then takes the bodies here for his little pet to eat them", Pat muttered, grimacing at the thought, "how come no one ever noticed? And why did the trail just lead us here, but not to the other place he must have here somewhere?"

"He must have set that up", Buffy sighed, "so he can't be found. If he can block locator spells from working, he surely can do that, too."

"At least we got rid of his little pet", Pat muttered, dismayed now that their plan had failed, "but we still have no idea where—"

The sound of heavy e-guitars suddenly came from her pocket, making both her and Buffy jump; it took her a second to realize that it was her cell phone, and she quickly pulled it out, ignoring the disbelieving look the Slayer was giving her – if the man had been in this house and someone had called her while she was sneaking around, all the stealth would have been for nothing.

"It's from your house", the demon told the blonde after a look at the display, where "Buffy – Home" was flashing; then, she pushed the button which took the call and held the phone to her ear, Buffy watching curiously how she listened in silence after her short greeting, her good eye going wide a short time later.

"Okay", she finally brought out, the mixture of disbelief and joy in her voice making the Slayer's heart beat faster, "we're on our way, see you in a few… Yeah, of course… Okay. Bye."

Quickly, she ended the call, then tugged the phone back into her pocket before she looked at Buffy, her voice still filled with that odd mix of disbelief and happiness when she spoke on, the Slayer feeling her heart beat faster at the news as well. "That was Giles. Willow's back at the house, she knocked him out somehow and came back…"

"Wow", Buffy gave back, "is she okay?"

"Apparently he hurt her with his knife", the demon grimaced, "but Giles said it should be okay once she borrowed my healing…"

"Well, what are we waiting for then", the Slayer smirked, making the taller woman nod; together, they hurried out of the cellar and of the house, walking as fast as they could without actually running, both of them eager to get back to Buffy's house as fast as possible so they could see for themselves that Willow really would be okay.


	15. Chapter 15

Right after entering the house, Pat made her way into the living room, not even bothering to take off her shoes; her gaze fell on her loved one sitting on the couch, Giles and Xander to her left and right, and without pausing for the blink of an eye, she rushed over to the witch and pulled her into a tight embrace, only loosening her grip a bit when Willow let out a slightly pained groan.

"I'm so glad you're okay", the demon brought out, while Giles and Xander left the room to give them some privacy, pulling a protesting Buffy outside with them, "I was so worried… I'm sorry I couldn't protect you…"

"After what he did to you?" Willow gave back, touched by her lover's overjoyed reaction, "I'm just glad I made it back here and that you are okay."

"Talking about being okay, let me look at what he did to you", the demon demanded in reply, even though it was quite clear where the redhead had been hurt, thanks to the blood stains on her pants; still Willow moved her leg slightly, giving her partner a better look at the wounds, making her grimace at the sight of the gash and the stab wound she had taken.

"I'm gonna make him pay for that when we see him again", the taller woman quietly swore, momentarily angry – before her concern for Willow took over again, showing through her voice when she asked if the redhead could do the healing spell immediately.

"I think so, yes", the witch reassured her, "but… are you sure it's a good idea? Did you need to heal anything after that dog-monster attacked you? And what about the burns?"

"I didn't need to heal, and how do you know about that anyway?" Pat gave back, confused, then seemed to realize that there were more important matters at hand and shrugged it off, adding "tell me later", to the witch's obvious amusement.

"Never mind the burns", she then went on, "now that I know what to expect, I'll be able to deal with them. You're obviously in pain and I want to help you…"

"Okay then", Willow gave in after a moment, "I know you won't stop insisting to do that right now anyway… and, to be honest, yes, those wounds hurt quite… bad…"

All at once, the excitement and the fear she had been going through the last few hours took their toll on her; her so far commendable self-control crumbled within seconds, and before she could stop herself, she burst into tears, prompting her girlfriend to give her a shocked look.

"I'm sorry", Willow brought out after a few moments of just crying, "it's just… I don't know…"

"Hey, it's okay", Pat reassured her, moving to sit down next to her and carefully putting an arm around her, "I mean, you escaped from a crazy psycho serial killer not all too long ago, it's no surprise you're upset…"

"I still feel silly", Willow mumbled, reaching up with one hand to wipe off the tears, "Buffy or you wouldn't cry because of that…"

"In fact, I felt like crying when I woke up on that sidewalk and realized that this idiot took you", Pat informed her, "I was so worried. If that guy had done something to you…"

"I guess I was lucky I got away", Willow admitted, her flow of tears slowly ceasing, "I used that lightning spell again, and it knocked him out… But only after he did some creepy magic which made me feel as if I'm having a heart attack or something."

"I'll make him pay for every second he hurt you", Pat vowed in reply, once more demonstrating that it was a bad idea to hurt her partner, "but now, let's take care of those wounds, shall we?"

Nodding, Willow grasped the taller woman's hand, then briefly closed her eyes, hoping that she really had recharged enough of her energies to perform the spell successfully; realizing that there was only one way to find out, she started it, keeping her voice low as she said the words, briefly feeling relieved when moments after the last word had been intonated, Pat's free hand flamed up, the wounds in her leg closing another second later.

Next to her, the demon let out a low groan as the burns the holy water had inflicted on her reappeared on her face, throat and hands; the moment the wounds of her partner had closed fully, she pulled her hand back and let out another groan, clenching her fists as she tried to will the pain away.

"Oh, Sweetie, poor you", Willow immediately showed sympathy, now not so sure anymore if she should have given in to the taller woman's suggestion so fast; worried, she moved a bit closer to the demon and placed one hand on her shoulder, giving her a concerned look, her touch making Pat look at her and give her a wry smile.

"I'll be fine", she then made herself say, holding back the urge to grimace at how the burns made her skin feel as if it'd burst open any moment when she talked, "don't worry… I'll deal with that two or three hours and then I can heal again…"

"Can we come back inside now?" Buffy's impatient voice echoed through the living room door before Willow had a chance to reply anything to that, making the couple exchange a startled look – before they both chuckled, then the witch called out that it was okay to come in, smiling at her best friend as the blonde entered seconds later.

"Oh, jeez", Buffy grimaced another moment later, after she had seen the reappeared burns, "that looks gruesome."

"Why thank you", Pat dryly gave back, giving the blonde an annoyed look; smiling apologetically, Buffy shrugged in reply, then focused on her best friend, moving up to her with two fast steps and pulling her into an embrace almost as tight as the one the demon had given the redhead not all too long ago.

"I'm so happy you're okay", the Slayer whispered to her friend, making her smile; reassuringly, Willow patted her back, then sat back down as Buffy let go of her, nodding when the blonde asked if her wounds had been healed and if she really was okay.

"I'm fine", she then reassured her, "I was just a bit upset a few minutes ago, but the wounds are gone…"

"Yeah, I figured, since Pat's are back", Buffy smirked, ignoring the dirty look the black haired woman gave her for that, "and no surprise you were upset, being locked up with that maniac… What did he do?"

Even though she didn't really want to remember what the man had done, Willow did just that, grimacing as she told her best friend about the powerful magic the man had used on her, noticing how Pat's gaze darkened once more at hearing about this again.

"Do you remember where that house is?" Buffy asked as soon as the redhead had finished, looking quite nonplussed, as well, even though she smiled a bit again when immediately, Willow nodded, almost offended at the question.

"Of course I do", she then said, giving her best friend a dismayed look, "what do you think I am, dense?"

"No, of course not", the Slayer hurried to reassure her, "but, well, it was quite the upsetting situation, so it would have been understandable if you hadn't paid attention to that…"

"Well I did", the witch gave back, "and I can lead you all back there so we can finish this guy off."

"In case he's still there", Pat muttered, shrugging when now, the dismayed look was directed at her. "What?" she then defended herself, "I wouldn't be surprised if he'd try to find another hideout as fast as possible now. I know I would."

"Let's hope he's not as smart as you, then", Willow sighed, having to admit that her partner was making a good point, "but seeing how full of himself he seems to be, he's probably sitting there now, waiting for us to arrive so he can kick our butts."

"Well, he'll have to wait a few hours", Buffy replied, unimpressed, "because we won't leave before you got rid of those burns again, Pat."

"Good idea", the demon agreed at once, "not to mention the fact that Willow should get some rest too before she goes to face that guy again. Just in case she'll need to do some magic."

Nodding, Buffy got up from her seat again, letting them know that she'd tell Giles about the facts Willow just had passed on to her; she smiled at her best friend once more, clearly happy about the fact that the witch had made it out of there alive, then left the room, Pat moving closer to her partner the moment the door had closed and once more pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Are you sure you'll be fine with facing that guy again?" she wanted to know, sounding worried, even though she smiled slightly when immediately, the redhead nodded, then carefully reached up and touched her cheek, so lightly that it didn't even make the burns hurt more than they already did.

"Actually I want to", Willow then let her know, holding her gaze and showing her that she was fully serious, "just to repay him for doing this to you… You know, I couldn't stop thinking about that when I was alone in that dreadful cell, it looked so awful, and the way you screamed… And then I thought that dog-monster ate you!"

"Actually, it ate the handle of my axe", Pat grimaced, "of my favourite one, too, stupid thing. Then we killed it."

"Good to know", Willow muttered, smiling again when the demon demanded to know once more how she could know about that; she quickly told her of the little trick the man had performed for her, shaking her head in dismay when the taller woman asked her if she could do that, too.

"He really is quite powerful", she then admitted, "we'll have to come up with something… Just going there with weapons won't be enough."

"We'll think about that later", Pat decided after a moment, "now, you'll get some rest, you must be tired. Come on, let's get you upstairs into the bedroom…"

Nodding, Willow got up from her seat, prompting Pat do to the same; together, the two made their way upstairs, ignoring the way the mass of girls in the kitchen was watching them as they passed the doorway, until Buffy had enough of their staring and closed the door, giving them all a strict look.

"I know you're all curious about what happened to her", she then let the girls know, unaware of the fact that the couple had stopped halfway up the stairs and was listening in, "but for now, you'll leave them alone. Willow needs some peace and quiet now."

While the girls all nodded their agreement, both Willow and Pat smiled at her words, then continued their way upstairs; in the bedroom, the witch didn't even bother to change into fresh clothes, but simply let herself fall down on the bed and patted the mattress next to her invitingly, making the demon join her not even two seconds later.

"I'll be much better rested if you'll cuddle with me", the redhead smirked, prompting her partner to pull her into a tender embrace, with a happy sigh, Willow lowered her head on the taller woman's shoulder, then closed her eyes, the exhaustion and excitement of the last few hours quickly taking their toll on her and sending her off into deep slumber a few minutes later.


	16. Chapter 16

When Willow woke up again two hours later, she felt surprisingly refreshed and relaxed; next to her, Pat was still slumbering soundly, lying flat on her back, snoring softly, the noise making the redhead smile slightly.

As always when she had that chance, Willow took the time to study her lover's face; even though they'd been together for several years by now, she nearly felt overwhelmed by the feelings she still had for the demon, once more finding it hard to believe how lucky she had ended up being and how well everything had worked in the end, after the rather unexpected and unpleasant discovery of her partner's true nature.

Momentarily, her expression darkened as she thought of all the hard times they had been forced to go through together already, the countless battles and the horrible moments when she had been sure that the demon had been killed and had let the darkness inside her take her over; then, she pushed those thoughts aside, telling herself that all those bad times were behind them now and that, as soon as they'd dealt with the killer, they'd hopefully have peace again, even though she was well aware of the fact that in a town like Sunnydale, such peace wouldn't last for long.

As if she had noticed that next to her, Willow wasn't slumbering anymore, Pat now stirred slightly, her snores stopping seconds before she opened her good eye and looked at the redhead, the adorable sleepy expression on her face prompting Willow to let out a cooing "Awww", a giggle following at the way Pat raised an eyebrow at her in response.

"You're just so cute when you just woke up", she then explained, making sure that no snarky reply would come a moment later by bending over the taller woman and kissing her; the kiss started out innocent enough, but soon deepened as both of them simultaneously remembered how worried they had been about each other just hours ago.

"I love you", Willow mumbled after pulling back from the kiss, her words making the demon smile before she reached up to tenderly caress her lover's cheek, her voice not much louder when she replied. "I love you, too… very much."

Smiling as well, the witch bent down for another kiss, then got up and checked her watch, sounding slightly relieved when she spoke up again. "I think you can heal those burns now, it should work again by now…"

"Worth a try, I guess", Pat agreed, getting up as well; since she was quite aware of the fact that the taller woman couldn't really control her fire until she was finished with demoning out, Willow took a few steps back, then watched how her lover's body changed, by now so used to the process that it didn't even fascinate her anymore, even though she had to smile when she heard the seams of her partner's clothing groan as the fabric stretched to fit her much more bulkier demonic form.

Even in that form, the burns looked gruesome, Willow thought to herself as she watched how the transformation finished; the fur which usually covered all of her girlfriend's body in that form was gone where she had been burnt by the holy water, the hair quickly growing back though as the healing abilities kicked in and the burns vanished.

"Much better", the redhead commented, making the demon nod; she took another moment to remain in that form, making sure that everything really was healed, before she returned to her human looks, smirking as she immediately felt that the healing had worked out just fine once more.

"Much better indeed", she then let the witch know, "and I'm glad my clothes didn't end up torn, for a moment, I thought they would."

"Me too", Willow giggled, throwing a sceptical look at the pants, "especially the pants. Remember how they got torn up in the supermarket?"

"Of course", Pat grimaced, giving her girlfriend a mock annoyed look when the redhead giggled at the memory, "that was so embarrassing. I'm glad it didn't happen again."

"At least this time, no one but me would have been around to see", Willow smirked, only to giggle again moments later at her partner's reply. "Yeah, but if you want to get me out of my pants, you know all you have to do is give me one of those sexy looks. No need to ruin my pants for that."

"Good point", the witch brought out between giggles, moving closer to her girlfriend now that the danger of getting burned was gone and hugging her, "and I'm glad that still works, after all those years."

"I think that'll work until the day I die", Pat chuckled, the redhead giggling harder again as well; then, the couple shared another kiss, this one short and innocent, before they finally left the bedroom and made their way downstairs to join the rest of the group again, eager to find out if by now, anyone had been able to come up with a plan to defeat their foe.

* * *

It didn't really surprise the couple that Giles was there in kitchen with Buffy when they joined the Slayer there; the girls all had retreated to the living room again, sitting there chattering so loud and amiably that they could hear it even though the door leading from the kitchen to the living room had been closed.

"There are several options we came up with while you were getting some rest", Giles let them know as soon as they had helped themselves to drinks from the fridge and had sat down at the table with the Slayer and the Watcher, "but since we don't know how powerful exactly this man is, unfortunately, we won't know if any of them will work until we confront him again."

"What are your ideas?" Willow wanted to know curiously; taking off his glasses, the Watcher looked at her with a slight smile, obviously glad to see her alive and well, taking a moment to tell her this before he went on with his explanation. "Well, the first thing which came to mind was the spell you used when we fought Amy, the one which blocked all her magic. I remember well how dangerous this was for you though, and how much it drained you, so we are not sure if it's a good idea to use it."

"That was quite the draining spell, yes", Willow had to admit, grimacing as she thought of how tired she had been after that spell and of how much her nose had bled right after she had cast it, "don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind getting drained if it'd help, but, as you said, we have no idea how powerful he is… So what if I do the spell, it doesn't work and then I can't do anything else?"

"We thought about that as well", Giles let her know, putting his glasses back on after cleaning them thoroughly, "so we came up with the second option, which involves a more… physical approach."

"Which means that you and me will approach him", Buffy told Pat, smirking slightly, "and beat the crap out of him. Willow can distract him at first with that electricity spell that seems to work well on him, and maybe keep him in place with that vine spell, then it should be possible."

"I guess so", Pat nodded after thinking about this for a moment, "and I like that option more than the one where my girlfriend risks massive nosebleeds and ending up in some sort of coma for a day or two again. Did you come up with anything else?"

"One last idea", Buffy let her know, "but we're both not sure it's really good… We thought about taking along the girls who have potential and make them help Willow with the spells, but…"

"No good idea indeed", Willow shook her head, "they might have done a good job here in the kitchen, casting that spell which showed the magical trail he left, but I doubt they'll be able to remain calm enough and concentrate as much as they have to when they are standing face to face with that guy."

"That option is out of question, then", Giles agreed, "now we have two more left to decide from."

"I like the one with physical violence", Pat let the others know, not really surprising anyone, "and not only because I'll get to dish out violence, but also because it'll be less dangerous for my lovely girlfriend here."

"Why don't we combine them", Willow suggested after giving her partner a brief, but happy smile, "we can try it the violent way first and if he does some nasty spells, I can still use the one to block his magic."

For a few moments, Giles just stared at her; then, he shook his head and muttered the question why he hadn't thought of this to himself before he nodded, making the witch smile slightly at his dismay about not thinking of this simple solution.

"That way it is, then", Buffy decided, making the others nod, a determined look on her face when she went on. "Let's go and kick his ass then…"

"Can't wait", Pat muttered, already coming to her feet; the rest did the same, and while Buffy and the demon went to arm themselves for the upcoming battle, Willow and Giles made their way to the living room to inform the girls about their plan, all of them looking happy and relieved when they heard that hopefully soon, the man who had been threatening their lives would be taken down.

* * *

Since Willow was the only one who knew where exactly the killer's hideout was, she took the lead the moment the three of them had stepped out of the house, marching along briskly as she was just as eager as the Slayer and the demon to get rid of the man; she still was a bit worried about the powerful magic he was able to use, but kept telling herself that, with the spell she could use to block his abilities, it would be fine and that once he'd have lost his magic, he wouldn't be much of a match for her best friend and her girlfriend.

"Stop worrying", Pat's voice now came from her left, making the witch look over at her partner, "with the three of us there, he won't stand a chance."

"Again, I wish I had your confidence", Willow sighed out in reply, touched by how well her girlfriend could read her by now and by the fact that she thus had noticed her worries and was trying to take them away, "but alas, I don't have it, so I can't help but worry, especially after getting a taste of his magic…"

"What you call confidence is an overgrown ego", Buffy teased from her right, smirking at the way Pat raised an eyebrow at her, "but Pat's right, with your magic and our strength and fighting skills, he won't have much of a chance."

"I hope you're right", the witch gave back, smiling at her best friend and a moment later at her girlfriend when the taller woman grasped her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, "but I was there for a front seat demonstration of what he can do, and let me tell you, it wasn't pleasant. I just wish I knew more about his abilities and powers…"

"Maybe you can examine his brain after we killed him", Pat said, sounding so serious that for a moment, Willow wasn't sure if she was joking or not; then, she saw the twinkle in her lover's good eye and shook her head, making the taller woman smirk slightly.

"I'd rather not, thanks", the redhead let her know, rolling her eyes when the demon's smirk widened slightly; next to her, Buffy smiled as well, then grew serious again as an unpleasant question popped up in her mind, sounding slightly concerned when she voiced it. "That spell he used to make you immobile… do you think he could do that to all three of us? At once, I mean?"

"I hope not", Willow grimaced, Pat frowning next to her as well at the thought, "I don't know much about such spells, but what I do know is that they take a great deal of concentration to be kept up, so… I guess it's unlikely he can do it to all three of us at the same time."

"Well, that's something", Buffy stated, making the other two nod; then, they fell silent as they kept walking to the house where Willow had been held captive, all of them growing more and more anxious with every step they took closer to the place of the upcoming confrontation.


	17. Chapter 17

"There we are", Willow let the other two know twenty minutes later, gesturing at the rather unremarkable house, "this is the place I escaped from… Now let's see if someone's at home."

With those words, she made her way up to the front door, not surprised to find it locked; a moment after she unsuccessfully had tried to open it, she stepped aside as Pat cleared her throat behind her, the demon moving to her side, making Buffy wince when she opened the door by kicking it with all her strength, the wood around the lock breaking away and the door swinging open right after the first try.

"Don't look at me that way", the demon said as she noticed the way Buffy was raising an eyebrow at her, "he's probably expecting us anyway, after Willow escaped."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't mean we have to alert him to our presence like that", Buffy reprimanded her, making her shrug before she entered first, her axe raised slightly, Buffy following right behind her, a tight grip on the crossbow she had brought along as well.

"If he's even here", Willow threw in from behind the Slayer, looking around nervously; at the front of the small group, Pat nodded, then her good eye narrowed as she spotted the droplets of blood on the wooden floor of the small anteroom they now all stood in, immediately knowing whose blood that was, her own welling up as she thought of how that man had dared to hurt her loved one.

"He was keeping me in the cellar", the witch now gained her attention, looking at the bloodstains as well and remembering her escape from the house, grimacing at the thought of how much it had hurt to run as fast as possible with those knife wounds in her leg, "maybe he's down there… He doesn't seem to be up here, or he would have made an appearance already."

"Good point", Buffy nodded, "downstairs it is then… Do you remember where the stairwell is?"

"Of course", the witch gave back, throwing her best friend a slightly annoyed look at that lack of trust in her memory, "follow me…"

With those words, she pushed past the demon and the Slayer, quickly leading them to a door close to the stairwell leading up into the first floor; unlike the front door, it wasn't locked, the redhead opening it and exposing the stairs leading into the cellar to the two others.

"A narrow stairway", Pat commented, looking past the witch's shoulder, "one of the things I don't like when combat is about to happen. Who goes first?"

"The one who asks", Buffy wittily gave back, smiling innocently at the look the demon gave her for that; then, the taller woman nodded, realizing it was making sense – according to the information Willow had given them before they had left, the hallway was wide enough so Buffy could shoot the crossbow past her with no troubles, and since she was the one carrying a weapon for close combat, it'd only be smart to be in range for using it, as well.

"I'll go next", Buffy let the witch know while Pat already started to make her way down the stairs, "you can do your magic from behind the two of us, too, right?"

"Of course", Willow reassured her, following her downstairs, "the spells I want to do just require that I see him, no physical contact."

"Good", the Slayer smirked, reaching the bottom of the stairs a moment later, ending up in a long hallway right behind the demon, who was studying the several metal doors lining said hallway with a slight frown as she tried to figure out if their opponent was hiding away behind one of them.

Then, once more, the trail of by now dried blood on the ground gained her attention, and she focused on it, her gaze following it to one of the doors; she looked over her shoulder at the two women behind her and gestured at said door, then started to move towards it, figuring that she might as well start with the room in which had girlfriend had been held captive. She only had taken two steps towards said door when behind them, the sound of the cellar door opening broke the tense silence; within the blink of an eye, the demon had turned around, exchanging startled looks with both Buffy and Willow before she hurriedly moved to stand in front of the Slayer, Willow retreating so she ended up behind the other two again, her heart beating up to her throat as she listened to heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.

Giving her best to remain calm, she kept her gaze focused on the stairs, a pair of feet soon appearing, the rest of the man following suit as he reached the bottom of the stairway; momentarily, he looked surprised when he saw the three women standing in the hallway, then he smiled, a smile which sent shivers up and down Willow's spine as she remembered how he had smiled at her exactly the same way before he had tortured her. Taking a step closer to him, Pat raised her axe slightly, obviously not willing to give him any time to perform a spell; his gaze moved from the redhead to her, and all at once, she found herself incapable of moving, only able to stare at him as he held her gaze, his smile widening slightly.

Without looking away, he brought his hand up, giving Willow just a second to wonder if he'd write in the air again to communicate and maybe make some snarky remarks about their presence; then, he touched his own throat, the witch's eyes going wide when a second later, he opened his mouth and spoke, with a voice that sent shivers through her again, a voice that was a combination of many – and all of them female, the redhead just taking a second to realize that he was talking in the voices of those he'd killed. "So the only real witch in this pitiful little town decided to come back. And this time, you brought some friends along, I see."

"We're here to take you down", Buffy confidently gave back, aiming her crossbow at him for emphasis, not letting it show of his voice was freaking her out as well. "You've come to the wrong town this time, my friend."

"Such an interesting little group", the man went on, as if he hadn't heard her at all, "the most powerful witch of this town, maybe of this continent, the Chosen One herself, and a demon, too. Very interesting. Especially you."

With those words, he focused on the demon again, his lips curling into a sardonic smirk while he took a step closer to her, making sure he stayed out of reach of her axe though.

"You and your impressive age", he continued, a strange glint entering his eyes; behind the demon, Willow tried to focus on one of the spells she had prepared for this confrontation, but found herself unable to do so, her attention snapping back to the man again and again, no matter how hard she tried to ignore him and the way his eyes were shining.

"Why would a demon with your experience and age run around with those two?" the man went on, sounding honestly curious; before Pat had a chance to answer though, he shook his head, then smiled again, dread suddenly filling the witch as she realized that soon, something awful would happen, even though she had no idea yet what this would be.

"Not that I really care", the killer smirked, distracting her from the diffuse fear of something bad happening any moment, "what I do care about is you, witch… You and your power."

"Well, you can't have her", Pat finally had the chance to say something, not liking his smug tone and the unimpressed look on his face at all.

"Not now, no", the man replied, to her surprise, since she had been expecting some more or less witty comeback about how he surely would kick all their asses, "or, better said, not yet." With those words, he looked at her again, and once more, she found herself transfixed by his gaze, no matter how hard she tried to move or look at way, unaware that behind her, Buffy and Willow were having the same troubles; smiling again, he stepped closer to her, his voice down to a low, almost seductive murmur when he went on. "Not as long as she's with the two of you… But there are ways to change that. Someone with your age should know… The lone wolf dies, but the pack survives."

He smiled again, giving her a moment to wonder why he kept making remarks about her age; then, his eyes narrowed, and all at once, she found it hard to breathe, feeling as if a band of iron was tightening around her chest.

"So many years", the man whispered, reaching up with one hand, his index- and middle finger lightly touching her chest, "such an old heart…" Momentarily, the pressure of his fingers on her chest increased, and along with that, the invisible iron band seemed to tighten even further; then, with another sardonic smile, he turned and walked off, Buffy and Willow just capable of standing there and staring after him, the only sounds in the hallway being his footsteps and the heavy, laboured breaths the demon was letting out.

* * *

"What the hell was that all about", the Slayer was the first one to speak, finally able to do so again moments after the sound of the door at the top of the cellar stairway closing had echoed through the quiet halls; instead of answering her question, Pat kept struggling for air, the sound of her breath alarming both Willow and Buffy.

"What's wrong?" Willow demanded to know, hurrying to her lover's side, the fact that the killer had gotten away forgotten the moment she saw how pale the taller woman had become and the pearls of sweat that were forming on her brow.

"I can't breathe", Pat brought out in a strangely trembling voice, struggling to get air into her lungs again after those three short words, "he… I…"

All at once, sharp pain shot through her chest, then spread out to her left arm and her stomach; groaning, she stumbled, Willow grabbing her in the last moment and keeping her from falling, her worry increasing when helplessly, the demon clutched at her chest.

"What's going on?" Buffy cried, now concerned as well, "what did he do?"

"I don't know", the witch gave back, fighting hard to keep herself from panicking while the demon's weight became too much for her and she had to let her go down on her knees, moving down with her and holding her, her mind racing as she tried to figure out what was happening.

"It hurts", Pat pressed out, still clutching her chest, "it hurts and I… I can't breathe…"

She let out a low groan, her fingers curling and bunching up part of her shirt as the pain increased until it became almost unbearable, her left arm going numb moments later.

"Get up!" Buffy nearly yelled, crouching next to her and grabbing her in a vain attempt to pull her to her feet, "get up and demon out, then it'll be okay, right? Come on!"

In response, Pat tried to do just that, struggling to get to her feet with the help of both Willow and Buffy; then, the pain increased even further, and with another groan, she slumped back down, ending up flat on the ground as they both lost their hold on her, her breathing turning into desperate gasps as she found herself now fully unable to get air into her lungs, the raging pain in her chest blocking out each rational thought.

"Come on", the witch now tried as well, grabbing her lover's shoulders and trying to help her to her feet again, "what's happening? Buffy's right, you have to get up, whatever he did to you, it'll be fine once you demoned out…"

"I can't", the demon gasped in reply, groaning in pain again when the redhead used her grip on her to turn her on her back, "it hurts so bad, my chest… my heart…"

"He's given her a heart attack", Buffy realized all at once, remembering the man's strange words about the taller woman's old heart, "whatever it was he did, it gave her a heart attack…"

For a moment, Willow felt like panicking again, then fought it down, telling herself that someone like her girlfriend, someone who had so much strength, surely could handle something like that; before she could convince herself of that fully though, Pat suddenly grasped her hand, letting out a hoarse cry as the pain impossibly increased even further – before her good eye rolled back into her head and she all at once laid still, her grip on the witch's hand slipping as her muscles went limp.


	18. Chapter 18

"Pat?" Willow brought out after a few moments of shocked silence, grabbing her shoulder again, her own breath getting caught in her throat when she realized that her partner wasn't breathing anymore; again, the panic wanted to take over, but she forced it down again, telling herself that this wouldn't lead anywhere.

"She's not breathing", she made herself say, looking up at Buffy for a second before she moved her hand from the taller woman's shoulder to her neck, briefly closing her eyes again when she couldn't find a pulse.

"No pulse, either", she unnecessarily added, the blonde already aware of this due to her reaction, "I'll need your help, we need to do CPR…"

Nodding, Buffy moved so she was kneeling at the demon's left while Willow hurriedly tore her shirt open, then carefully pulled her head back into her neck, making sure that her airway was free, nodding when the Slayer asked her if she was ready.

"I might break a rib or two, so don't freak out if there's a crack", Buffy warned her, then placed both hands on the lifeless woman's chest, one over the other, and started with the cardiac massage; it didn't take long until the crack of breaking bones she had prophesized could be heard and, for her, felt, but she didn't let that stop her, going on with the compressions until she had reached the number she had learned during first aid class, momentarily happy about the fact that she still remembered.

The moment she stopped with the compressions, Willow bent down and started the mouth-to-mouth, sending silent prayers to whoever might be listening that their efforts would work out; for a moment, she thought about calling an ambulance while she breathed into her girlfriend's lungs, then realized that, even though she had remembered the way from the killer's house to Buffy's home, she had no idea about the address.

"Come on", she whispered after she had pulled back again, prompting Buffy to start with the compressions once more, "come back to me… I know you're strong enough, come on…"

"Listen to your girlfriend", Buffy panted out as she kept pumping, glad that her Slayer strength made this easier for her than it would have been for an average person; so far, Willow was surprisingly calm, not even crying yet, but the blonde knew that this could change into a much more drastic reaction once she'd start to think that their efforts were for nothing.

To her dismay, just this seemed to be the case for the next few minutes, even though she kept up the compressions and Willow kept breathing for her partner; and even though she was trying hard to remain calm, the witch found herself increasingly closer to panic, tears filling her eyes at last when she pulled back from the mouth-to-mouth once more and no reaction came from the lifeless Pat.

"Come on, dammit!" she cried out while Buffy began her part of the CPR once more, "come back! You're not just gonna die on me here now, are you? Don't you dare to do this now!"

Breathing heavily, she tried to fight back her tears, telling herself that, in a few seconds, she'd have to do the mouth-to-mouth again; before this was necessary once more though, the demon suddenly twitched beneath Buffy's hands, letting out a strangely wet sounding gurgle, Willow's eyes going wide as she realized what was about to happen.

"Quick, quick!" she yelled, making Buffy flinch back; this gave her the chance to grab her partner and roll her on her side, just in time for her to vomit on the ground as she threw up, the redhead's heart cramping up when she felt her loved one tremble in her grasp.

"There, there", she mumbled soothingly, remembering how the first-aid instructor back in school had told them that, apart from the vomiting, persons who had been given successful CPR also might end up dizzy and disoriented, "it's okay, Buffy and me are right here with you, you'll be fine…"

In response, the demon's body cramped up once more, followed by more puking; then, coughing weakly, Pat let out a low groan, the noise prompting Willow to pull her up into her arms and hold her close.

"There, there, Sweetie", she mumbled again, Buffy watching the scene with a slight smile on her face, relieved that the CPR had done its job at last and had brought the demon back to them, "it's okay… Can you hear me? It's okay, you'll be okay…"

"What…" Pat croaked, then fell silent, momentarily feeling as if she'd puke again; tightening her hold on her, Willow looked at Buffy and asked her if she could get some water for her partner, making the Slayer nod before she came to her feet, still taking the time to reassuringly squeeze the black haired woman's shoulder and also tell her that she'd be okay before she hurried off.

"Come on, Sweetie, look at me", the witch gently said, smiling slightly when Pat did just that, her face still dreadfully pale and her gaze disoriented, but at least she was responding to the words of her lover.

"You'll be fine", Willow reassured her as soon as the demon was looking at her, "once you're strong enough, you'll get up and demon out and it'll all be fine…"

Now that the threat of her girlfriend dying right beside her was gone, she finally gave in to the tears that had been burning in her eyes for the last few minutes; and with a soft, strangled sob, she pulled Pat even closer to herself, holding her as tight as she could while she cried tears of relief, only now realizing fully how close to losing her loved one forever she had been.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Pat already was looking much better, some of the colour having returned to her face and her dizziness and the need to puke gone; Buffy had brought her a glass of water which she was drinking slowly, sitting with her back against the wall, still having to deal with a dull pain in her chest, but well aware of the fact how lucky she was to be alive right now.

"I think he underestimated how much it takes to really kill a demon when he did that mojo", Buffy smiled, successfully ignoring the fact that Pat had been dead for a short time, only to be reminded of it by Willow moments later as the witch was the one to reply to that statement. "Well, she was dead for five minutes or so, but… I get your point, a human wouldn't be fine again so quickly after the CPR…"

"I'd like to point out that I'm not fully fine", Pat threw in, still sounding hoarse, "my chest hurts and I feel all weak…"

"Yes, but a regular human would be in a much worse state now", Willow let her know, giving her hand a tender squeeze, "they'd have to go to the hospital and stay there for a while…"

"Okay, point taken", the demon muttered, then shocked her girlfriend by putting the glass of water aside and beginning to look for her cigarettes, stopping though when she noticed the way Willow was staring at her.

"…what?" she dared to ask after a second, prompting the witch to shake her head, a strict tone in her voice when she replied. "You just had a heart attack and want to smoke? Are you kidding me? That can't be good."

"The heart attack had nothing to do with my smoking though", Pat argued, giving up the search with a slight sigh though when Willow gave her another disapproving look.

"Fine", she grumbled, "I'll wait until after demoning out then…"

"I can live with that", Willow smiled, then looked at Buffy again, sounding worried when she continued after a moment. "Remember what he said before he did that to Pat? He wants to get me alone somewhere…"

"Well, he won't", Buffy gave back, making the demon nod her agreement, "we won't let you out of our sight until we took that guy down. Who knows what he wants from you."

"Her power", Pat muttered, taking another sip from the water before she went on, her gaze focused on the redhead even though she was talking to Buffy. "Didn't you hear what he was saying about how powerful she is? That's what he wants. Her power."

"Remember his voice?" Willow pondered out loud, giving her partner a worried look, "what if those were the voices of all the girls he stole from power from? I thought it'd be the girls he killed, but after what you just said…"

"Possible", the demon nodded, "we should look into such power-stealing stuff once we're back home, maybe we can keep him from doing it if we know how it is done."

"Good idea", Buffy agreed, "but to do that, we need to get back home, so… are you strong enough to demon about by now?"

"I think so", Pat said after thinking about this for a moment, "if you'll help me up, that is…" Nodding, both Buffy and Willow got up to do just that; together, they helped the demon to her feet easily, then stepped back as far as they could in the hallway, watching the taller woman change into her furrier side, the hallway briefly filled with the flickering lights of her flames until she had finished the transformation and thought of toning them down so she wouldn't burn the witch or the Slayer.

For a moment, the pain in her chest increased again as the healing factor kicked in, and she grit her teeth; then, the healing did its job and the pain vanished, the demon grimacing when the sound broken bones made during the sped up healing came up.

"Did you break my ribs or something?" she demanded to know, looking at Buffy, the Slayer nodding in reply and giving her an innocent smile before she let her know that this had happened during the CPR.

"Sorry", she then apologized, smiling when Pat told her it didn't matter; she waited until she could be sure that everything had been fully healed, then returned to her human form, nodding when Willow asked her if she was feeling fine now. Smiling as well, the witch grasped her girlfriend's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze; they took the time to share a brief, but gentle kiss, then made their way to the stairway leading out of the cellar with Buffy right behind them, eager to leave the killer's lair and return to their home.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: First off, I apologize for the horribly long delay about posting this. Things have really been crazy here, with the holidays and lots to do at the job and a million other obligations which kept me from my laptop… But now, I should be able to get back on the regular schedule. :)

* * *

"Wait", Willow said the moment they had made their way back to the ground floor, "he's still gone, maybe we should look around a bit now that we have the chance… we might find something helpful."

"Good idea", Buffy agreed, "we should split up so we'll be faster, who knows when he'll come back."

Quickly, it was decided who would go where, the demon volunteering to check out the first floor while Buffy and Willow would check the ground floor, the Slayer telling her friends to be careful before she hurried off into the kitchen, prompting Willow to check out the living room while Pat went upstairs to look for anything helpful there.

While Willow was looking through the various books on the shelves lining one of the walls, she kept listening for the sound of the front door opening, hoping and praying that the man wouldn't come back while they were still there; it had been bad enough what had happened during the last encounter with him, but she didn't want to imagine what he might do to Pat if he'd see that his first try to get rid of her hadn't worked.

Now that this unpleasant thought had come up in her mind, she found herself unable to stop pondering it, thoughts of brain haemorrhages and collapsing lungs following suit; grimacing, she gave her best to push them out of her mind, telling herself that next time they'd face him, she'd be prepared for his magic and would know how to keep him from harming her partner again.

_I wonder why he went after her_, she thought to herself while she moved from the bookshelf after making sure nothing interesting was there, _if he had to kill all those other girls to get their power, why didn't he go after me in the first place? _

Frowning to herself, she had to admit that she didn't have an answer to that question; it bothered her that so far, they knew so little about their opponent, and from what she could see, she wouldn't really find any answers here, either, momentarily hoping that Buffy and Pat were luckier in their searches.

With a small, dismayed sigh at the lack of any useful information in this room, the witch turned to leave and look for something somewhere else; when she took a step towards the door though, the floorboard beneath her foot not only creaked audibly, but also shifted when she put her weight on it, making her stop dead in her tracks, a frown appearing on her face as she carefully stepped down on the board again, feeling it move once more.

For a moment, she wondered if this was just a coincidence and that surely, someone with the skills of this man wouldn't use a hollowed out place beneath a floorboard to hide important things; then, she decided that looking wouldn't hurt and knelt down next to the board, carefully trying to get a hold on it which would allow her to lift it. It didn't take long until she had managed to get her fingers into the narrow gap between the floorboard which had moved and the one right next to it; carefully, so she wouldn't slip and end up hurting herself, she began to lift it, and moments later, a shockingly loud bang echoed through the house, combined with a flash of light and the cry the witch let out as she was thrown backwards, stars exploding in front of her eyes when the back of her head connected harshly with the wall.

Dimly, she heard hurried footsteps approach her, accompanied by Buffy calling out her name; groaning, the witch tried to come to her feet, only to slump back against the wall as the world started to spin around her, something hot and sticky trickling down the back of her head, the feeling making her realize with a few seconds of delay that she had hit her head hard enough to gain a laceration.

"Willow!" Buffy's voice came again, now much closer, sounding awfully worried; and moments later, the Slayer was crouching next to her, looking just as concerned as she had sounded, grabbing her shoulder and making the redhead look at her best friend dizzily. "What happened? Are you okay?"

Before she could answer, Pat came storming into the room as well, making her wonder briefly if the demon actually had jumped down the stairs instead of running or walking; she looked just as worried as Buffy, and her good eye went wide when she saw the blood which by now was dripping from the witch's head wound to the floor.

"What happened?" she demanded to know as well, looking from her partner to the Slayer, only earning a shrug from the blonde; with another soft groan, Willow finally managed to at least sit up, closing her eyes for a moment when the world started to spin around her again, giving her best to keep her voice steady when she replied once she had made sure she wouldn't throw up the moment she'd open her mouth.

"Some sort of magical boobie trap", she let the two know, gesturing at the floorboard she had tried to lift, "that floorboard can be taken out, but when I tried to, something went off…"

"Yet another point I'll add to the guy's Reasons-Why-I'll-Kill-You list", Pat grumbled, then found a handkerchief in her pocket and told her partner that this might hurt before she pressed it on the wound to stop the bleeding, giving the redhead an apologetic look when she winced in pain.

"Do you think it's a one-time-thing?" Buffy demanded to know, throwing a sceptic look at the floorboard in question, "or will it go off again the moment I touch it?"

"I have no idea", Willow gave back, "maybe we should try to lift it some other way… With a tool…"

"I'll do it", Pat threw in before Buffy could reply, "if it hurts me, I can heal it. But maybe you should move aside a bit, in case I get thrown all the way to that wall, too."

Nodding, the witch did just that with Buffy's help, moving along the wall until she could be sure she wouldn't end up squished, should the trap go off again; she didn't even notice how she held her breath when Pat moved to the floorboard and knelt down next to it, studying it for a moment before she tried to lift it as well, already looking as if she was expecting to be hit by the magical trap any moment.

To the relief of all three though, the man clearly had thought that the trap either would kill the one to set it off or that it would be painful enough to discourage anyone from trying again; she could get the floorboard out with ease, only to frown a moment later as she saw what had been hidden beneath it.

"This is weird", she mumbled, reaching into the surprisingly deep hiding place, showing the other two what she had meant moments later by pulling out the content – a cardboard box filled to the brim with wallets and pieces of jewellery.

"Is he pick-pocketing when he's not killing girls?" Buffy demanded to know after looking into the box and frowning at the content as well; shrugging, Pat took out one of the wallets and peered inside, quickly finding out that it had belonged to a man who was about the age of the killer, judging from the photo on the driver's license she found inside.

Now curious, she looked at the other wallets as well; all of them had belonged to men, and all of them ranged in age from mid-thirties to early forties, making her wonder where he had gotten them all – the thought that he'd stolen them didn't make much sense anymore now.

"Look at that", she finally said, handing the box to Buffy, the Slayer moving closer to Willow so they both could have a look at the contents, "they're all from men in a similar age, I wonder what that's supposed to mean."

"Too bad we can't just ask him", Willow gave back, picking up one of the wallets too and looking through the content; when she found nothing interesting, she threw it back into the cardboard box, gesturing at it afterwards and giving her two companions a questioning look as she spoke on. "Should we take that along? I could do searches on those men, maybe something will come up."

"Yeah, good idea", Buffy agreed after a moment, "I doubt he'll be surprised to find them gone, he's surely smart enough to figure out that we'd look for something like that. Did any of you find anything else?"

"Nope", Pat gave back, "unfortunately, all I found was his underwear drawer. He's a briefs man, if you wanted to know."

"No", the Slayer and the witch answered in perfect unison, making the demon chuckle; smiling as well, Buffy came to her feet again, then both she and Pat helped Willow to get up, supporting her as they left the house together and headed back to the Summers home, none of them able to shake of the feeling that they had found something which would be very important for resolving the whole situation.

* * *

Two hours later, Willow finally looked up from the laptop and at the demon, the taller woman more hanging than sitting in one of the living room chairs and reading one of the books from Buffy's collection, some sort of horror novel; momentarily, the witch wondered why someone who had as much horror in their daily life as Buffy would want to read about that stuff in their free time, then shrugged it off, gaining her girlfriend's attention by saying her name.

"Thank goodness you got done", the demon stated, holding the book up as if for emphasis, "I was about to throw that across the living room. The characters are fucking stupid."

"Language", Willow automatically gave back, smiling at the huff the demon let out – before she gestured at the laptop, her voice filled with a strange mixture of excitement and concern when she went on. "I found something quite… interesting. I think that puts this whole mess into a new light." "

Yeah?" Pat gave back, carelessly throwing the book on the table before she moved to her partner's side, "what?"

"All those men have been found guilty of murder, all of them in at least three cases, most of them more", Willow let her know in reply, "which would make them all serial killers. They all pleaded not guilty and claimed demonic possession, insanity, or both."

"You know, if this information was given to me in any other situation, I'd say it's typical", the black haired woman gave back, now looking at the laptop screen as well and at the Excel file Willow had made so she could easier cross-check the data, "but seeing what we are facing… What were they after?"

"Girls", the redhead gave back at once, not really surprising her lover, "teenaged girls, at college. Like the ones here."

"There's a thought forming in my mind, but I don't like it at all", Pat muttered, looking from the laptop screen at the redhead beside her, momentarily glad that she didn't need to focus on the screen anymore – looking at such monitors always made her eye water after just a few minutes, and she wasn't all too keen on experiencing that again.

"And judging from the look on your face, you have similar thoughts", she added, not surprised when the witch nodded, the excitement fully replaced by concern when she replied. "Anyone else might think that this is crazy, but… I think those men were right. I think they were possessed when they were committing those murders."

"Which would explain why the police are so useless in stopping them", Pat sighed, looking dismayed, "if… whatever it is… can just jump into a new host whenever it needs to… Is that possible?"

"Unfortunately, yes", the redhead regretfully told her, "powerful spirits can move from one body to the next within the blink of an eye."

"And that he is powerful isn't really a question anymore, is it", the demon said, grimacing as she remembered how easily the man had nearly killed her, with nothing more than a few words and a tiny touch.

"You know", she went on when the witch didn't reply at once, "this is just too annoying. Couldn't it have been a regular serial killer or something? Nooo, it has to be some demonic spirit crap thing, on a rampage of killing teenaged girls."

"Witches", Willow corrected, "I looked up the victims, there wasn't information on all of them, but the ones I did find something about, they all were interested in spiritual and new age stuff."

"Which doesn't exactly make them witches", Pat argued, "as you know."

"Apparently, he doesn't", Willow shot back, "it took him a while to realize I'm the only really powerful witch here, remember? Now I'm just wondering what he might need all those powers for, I mean, usually, spirits don't just go around killing people for fun. He must have some kind of purpose."

"Actually, I knew a spirit or two who did just that", the demon let her know, once more reminding her of her quite colourful past, "but, yeah, I see your point. This guy definitely is after something special."

"I wish we would have found more", Willow sighed out, throwing a dismayed look at the laptop. "Now, what we do know about him actually upsets me more than it's calming me down. I'll need to look up spells to make sure he won't jump into any of us, that'd be dreadful."

"Why didn't he jump into you?" Pat wanted to know, frowning, "if he's after your power, wouldn't that be an easy way to get it?"

"No", the redhead gave back at once, "I don't know much about possession, but… I think that, if he'd try to possess me, the power he already collected would conflict with my own, it might end really badly. The men he controlled had no magical powers, so…"

"Makes sense", Pat had to admit, "so, I'm out of the question too, then? I mean, my demon me might react badly to being confronted with the magic of countless girls."

"Possible", Willow nodded after a moment, "but I'll still put the spell on all of us. Just to be sure."

"Yup", the demon agreed, "better to be safe than sorry, huh?" Nodding again, Willow smiled at her, then leaned in for a brief kiss; afterwards, she let the taller woman know that she'd go and tell the news to Buffy, not surprised when Pat stated that she'd come along, the demon clearly not willing to let her out of her sight any more than necessary after what they had found out.

Smiling, she nodded for a third time, then waited until her partner had gotten up; together, they made their way into the kitchen, where Buffy still was busy with cleaning the traces the girls of the Wicca group had left there, obviously glad that they all had decided it was safe enough to leave after they had been reassured that the killer would be after Willow now, going back to their homes and allowing some peace and quiet to return to the Summers' household.


	20. Chapter 20

"So we're not battling the actual guy, but some spirit inside him? Now I feel bad about hitting him", Buffy said as soon as Willow had finished telling her the news, making the witch grimace as she thought of how she had smashed the man's head against the floor and had used her lightning spell to hurt him when she had been his captive.

"Tell me about it", she then muttered, prompting Pat to grasp her hand and give it a reassuring squeeze; she smiled slightly at the demon, then her attention moved back to Buffy when the blonde spoke up again, sounding thoughtful. "Do you think you can get him out somehow then? Killing the guy he's possessing now won't help much, he'll just move to another body then and also, it's not the guy's fault, anyway."

"I'll look up some exorcism spells", the redhead gave back, "but those I already know take some time to cast, so you'd have to keep him busy until I finished casting, not to mention the fact that I'm not even sure he can be forced out, seeing how powerful his magic is by now."

"Well, it's worth a try", Pat threw in, "but, question, what do we do with him after you exorcized him? Kinda hard to beat up a spirit."

"Oh, I know a spell for that", Willow reassured her at once, smiling slightly, "I had to use one once before, when we brought back Buffy from the dead and she'd accidentally taken along a nasty spirit, I made it solid for her, it should work on that guy, too."

"Alright", the demon smirked, clearly relieved to hear that, "we have a plan now, then, or at least the beginnings of one."

"Yup", the Slayer smirked, "and we should get to work as fast as possible. Willow, I'd like you to start looking up those exorcism spells now, it'd be good if you'd find one which doesn't take all too long… and while you do that, Pat and I will try to come up with a way how to find him."

"If we even have to do that", the demon gave back, "he's after Willow, remember? I bet he'll show up here sooner or later."

"…I have a really bad idea", the Slayer replied to that after a few moments of silence, the way Willow let out a dismayed groan making Pat raise an eyebrow curiously and look from the blonde to the redhead and then back at the blonde again.

"The last time you said that, I ended up wearing a corset and leather pants, in a bar full of vampires", Willow reminded Buffy, not surprised when her girlfriend's good eye started to shine as she obviously was busy with conjuring up a mental picture of Willow wearing the clothes she just had mentioned, but deciding to ignore it, "what is it this time?"

"Weeeeeeell", the Slayer gave back, drawing out the word unnecessarily long as she searched for the right phrase to continue, "I know you won't like this, and neither will Pat, but… we could, um, let you take a walk…"

"Take a walk", Willow echoed, then realized what the blonde was aiming for and sighed, her dismay increasing and showing through her voice when she continued. "Alone, you mean. You wanna use me as bait."

"You're right", the demon grumbled, the dreamy expression gone from her face within the blink of an eye, "I don't like that _at all_. You've seen how powerful this guy is, what if we're not fast enough and he harms her?"

"Do you have any better ideas?" Buffy shot back, not liking that her idea wasn't received very well, even though she had known this would happen, "just sit around here and wait for him to show up? The locator spell doesn't work with that guy, remember, and neither did the idea with following his magical track or whatever it was called."

"I know all that", Pat sighed, not wanting to get into an argument with her friend, "but, come on, just sending her out there? What if he does some of his awful mojo on her while we're still running to catch up? You saw how fast he gave me that heart attack."

"I know it's dangerous", Buffy at least admitted, ignoring how the demon grumbled "No shit, Sherlock" to herself, "but, as I asked, does any of you have any other ideas? And of course we won't stay away from her so far that it'll take us forever to reach her…"

"It's dangerous, but I don't see another way", Willow finally admitted, glad that this hadn't turned into an argument between her best friend and her girlfriend, "Buffy's right, Pat, just sitting around here won't do any good…"

"Yeah", the demon finally grumbled, "I know… Fine. I don't like it, but fine, Buffy has a point. Let's figure out then how to do this so you'll be in as little danger as possible."

"You and Buffy do that", Willow gave back, "I'll go and look up those spells." For a moment, Pat looked as if she wanted to protest again, but then nodded; giving her a reassuring smile, the redhead briefly touched her hand and reassured her that everything would be okay before she made her way upstairs for her part of the research while the demon and the Slayer sat down at the kitchen table and started planning, Pat giving her best to ignore how bad this whole idea was making her feel.

* * *

As she made her way down the street to the house where they had last confronted the man, Willow gave her best to not appear nervous or do to anything else that might tip the guy off; she had to fight down the urge to look left and right again and again, somehow always winning that fight, even though her nervousness grew with every step she took. After she had found a spell for the exorcism she planned to do, she had rejoined her partner and her best friend in the kitchen; there, it had been decided that she'd go to the man's hideout first and look for him there and, if he wouldn't be there, that she'd move on to the Magic Box, all three of them figuring that he'd look for her there and maybe already was waiting for her to arrive there.

Her heart started to beat faster when she spotted the man's house in the distance, the redhead unable to keep the memories of what had happened in the cellar out of her mind, a shudder running through her when she thought of how she almost had lost her girlfriend; then, she forced those thoughts aside and steeled herself for a possible confrontation, knowing that she might have to face the killer for at least a few minutes, until the cavalry in form of Buffy and Pat would arrive. To make sure that the man wouldn't notice that something was foul by the looks the redhead might take into the direction of her partner and best friend, the three of them had agreed on keeping out of sight, not telling her which route they would take to the house; thus, she had no idea how near or far the two were, a thought that wasn't very calming, but she knew that it was necessary.

Taking in a deep breath, she steeled herself for a possible fight as she approached the door; the lock had been ruined by how Pat had opened it at their first visit, and it swung open after she barely had touched it, her heartbeat increasing even further as she looked at the empty anteroom and hallway behind it.

For a few moments, she just stood there, not sure what she should do now; she didn't want to go into the house, not as long as she had no idea how close Buffy and Pat were to her, but there didn't seem to be any other way to find out if he was there – just calling out "Hello" surely wouldn't work. Holding back a sigh, she now did look around, dismayed when she couldn't spot the other two women; then, she told herself not to be a wuss and that she could handle him with her magic before she stepped inside, making her way straight to the living room, only to stop dead in her tracks in the doorway, her eyes briefly going wide.

It was obvious that the man hadn't been happy about the fact that they had found the cardboard box with all the wallets; the living room looked as if a tornado had raged through it, the table smashed against the wall, the couch torn up and the shelves thrown over, books lying everywhere.

"Wow, someone had a temper tantrum", she mumbled to herself, then turned and checked the other rooms of the ground floor; when she couldn't find him there, she wondered briefly if she should go upstairs and look there, then decided against it – if he had been here, he would have noticed her presence already and would have come to challenge or to try to do whatever he did when he absorbed the power of those poor girls. Shaking her head once more about his temper tantrum, she left the house again; once back outside, she looked left and right again, frowning to herself when once more, she found herself unable to spot the Slayer and the demon, asking herself where they were and if they even were still there – or if she had walked too fast for them and they had lost sight of her.

Then, she told herself not to be silly – after all, her girlfriend had been an assassin for two centuries, so she surely knew how to follow someone without letting them notice, the witch smiling slightly to herself as she imagined how offended Pat might be when she'd suggest that she had lost sight of her during the walk from Buffy's house to the home of the killer. She threw another look at the ruined door of the house, then turned away and started to walk again, asking herself if she'd really find the man in the Magic Box; while she walked, she thought the spells she had prepared through once more, not letting any doubt about their effectiveness enter her mind as she made her way to the store, her heart beating faster again when she spotted it in the distance.

Taking in a deep breath, she steeled herself for a possible fight once more, reminding herself that she should avoid ruining any furniture or, Heaven forbid, merchandise if she didn't want to risk Anya's wrath; then, she reached the shop and entered it, her heart immediately sinking when she couldn't spot the man anywhere and she was forced to realize that apparently, all their planning had been in vain.


	21. Chapter 21

Finding it hard to believe that their impression on the man and on his need to get Willow alone so he could steal her power, the redhead let her gaze wander through the store once more, as if she could have missed him at the first glance; the only persons she could see though were Anya behind the counter and, to her surprise, Jackie from the Wicca group, the girl standing up on the small balcony and browsing one of the books, so absorbed by it that she only waved distractedly when Willow called a greeting to her.

"You should greet me first", Anya reprimanded her immediately, leaving her place behind the counter and moving up to her, "we've been friends for years and you've only met her recently so, I'm more important and should be greeted first."

"Sorry", Willow gave back, deciding not to argue about the logic behind this, "hi, Anya."

"Hi, Willow", the ex-demon replied, now smiling again, "what are you doing here? Do you want to buy stuff?"

"Actually, no", the witch gave back, ignoring the way Anya huffed in reply to that, "I was hoping to meet someone here…"

"Whom?" Anya demanded to know, but before the redhead could answer, the door opened behind her and she turned around, suddenly sure that the man would come bursting in now and attack her; instead, she found herself looking at Buffy and Pat, the demon having quite an annoyed look on her face as she realized that the guy they had been after wasn't here, either.

"Dammit", the demon grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, "what do we do now? Our great plan didn't work out so well."

"I have no idea", Willow sighed, looking at Anya again when the ex-demon demanded to know what plan Pat was talking about, her eyes doubling in size when the redhead told her.

"You were planning to fight this man here?!" she then cried out, sounding so incredulous that Pat found herself forced to fight down a chuckle, "what if you had damaged the merchandise?"

"We would have tried not to", Willow reassured her, "not that it matters anymore, he's not here and not at his house, we have no idea where he could be. I guess we have to go back home and wait after all…"

While Buffy and Pat nodded their agreement, she noticed movement on the balcony from the corner of her eye, automatically looking up; and the moment she did so, her gaze met Jackie's, her heart skipping a beat when she saw the darkness in the other girls eyes, the hairs on the back of her neck rising when she felt strong magical energy fill the air. She just had another moment to realize that the girl's gaze was moving from her to Buffy, then she already was moving, acting on pure instinct, getting in front of the Slayer just as Jackie shot the lightning bolt at the blonde, and then it hit her in the back, a hoarse cry escaping her as horrendous pain rushed all through her body.

Dimly, she heard how Pat let out a shockingly loud growl, then she fell, the Slayer's arms catching her moments later and keeping her from falling; frantically saying her name again and again, Buffy lowered herself to the ground with the witch in a tight grasp, snapping at Willow that she should open her eyes the moment she could be sure she wouldn't accidentally drop the redhead. Even though each eyelid seemed to weigh a ton, she forced herself to do just that, somehow managing to open her eyes, groaning softly; the pain was still raging through her body, but slowly it was fading, too slow for her liking though.

The crackling sounds of the lightning spell came up again, making her look up at the balcony; there, Jackie stood, grinning widely as she shot lightning at the advancing demon, even though her grin faded slowly when, even though she was rushing up the stairs, Pat managed to duck, the magic hitting the wooden banister instead of her, leaving a large scorch mark, smoke curling from it, prompting Anya to cry out in dismay at the damage which was done to her store.

"…tell… don't… kill…" Willow brought out, shocked at how hard it was for her to speak; to her relief, Buffy realized quickly what she was trying to say though, nodding reassuringly at her before she raised her voice, hoping that despite the rage which undoubtedly had taken over, Pat would hear her and take her words to heart. "Pat! Don't kill her, it's not her, it's the spirit!"

To her relief, the demon reacted immediately, even though it turned out to be not so good for her; her by now flaming fist froze in mid-air, and Jackie took the chance given by throwing a punch herself, hitting the taller woman in the lower jaw, her teeth clicking audibly as they were smashed together, the taste of blood filling her mouth a second later, making her realize that she had bitten her tongue.

Growling again, she spat a mouthful of blood on the ground, then dodged quickly as Jackie threw another punch at her; she had a second to wonder why the girl – or the spirit within her – wasn't using any magic on her, then Jackie suddenly thrust both hands forward, a burst of energy hitting the demon and sending her backwards the blink of an eye later, throwing her against the wooden banister hard enough to make it break, the demon crashing to the ground below the balcony moments after the spell had been sent against her. With another growl, she sprang to her feet again, only to be thrown backwards once more moments later as another burst of energy hit her, ending up crashing into one of the bookshelves, the shelf toppling over at the impact and books falling everywhere.

"Stop it!" Anya cried, looking from the demon up at the balcony where Jackie still was standing, "you're ruining my store…!"

"Is that all you worry about?" Buffy snapped, briefly making the ex-demon look at her; then, they both were distracted from Anya's lack of sensitivity again when Jackie let out a shrill giggle up on the balcony and, with a short movement of her hands, made a large and pointy splinter of the banister rise up in the air, a malicious smirk appearing on her face – before she made a sharp downward gesture with one hand, the splinter shooting away from her and towards Pat the blink of an eye later.

Reacting purely on instinct and without even thinking about it for a second, the demon grabbed one of the books from the ground and nearly jerked it upwards in front of her face, the splinter embedding itself deep in the book seconds later, the sharp tip stopping mere millimetres in front of her good eye.

Letting out a heavy breath, she threw the ruined book aside, ignoring the cry Anya let out at the sight while she came to her feet once more; this time she somehow managed to duck when Jackie shot another spell at her, the magic hitting yet another bookshelf instead and making it fall, as well, prompting another yell from the ex-demon.

"Help Pat to distract her", Willow groaned, looking up at her friend, "I'll need a few more minutes, then I can start the spell…"

For a moment, Buffy looked worried and as if she might protest; then, she nodded and came to her feet, quickly hurrying to the demon's side, only to be forced to drop down to the ground when Jackie shot yet another spell at them.

"I'm not sure how we're supposed to do it, but Willow wants us to distract her", the Slayer whispered to Pat while the demon picked up one of the thick books and hurled it at the girl, giving them a few more moments to come up with something as Jackie had to duck or it would have smacked her right in the face, "for a few more minutes, until she can do the spell…"

"The question is how, if we're not supposed to hurt her", the demon grumbled in reply, picking up another book and throwing it when Jackie straightened up again, forcing her to duck once more, "I don't just want to run around here and act as a target for her."

"Me neither", Buffy grimaced, "we have to get up there or she'll go on blasting her spells at us, until one of us gets seriously hurt."

"I'll go up the stairs", Pat gave back after a moment, "if she hurts me, I can handle it. You'll have to try and get up some other way without her noticing…"

"Alright", the blonde agreed after a moment, "but be careful, try to not let her give you another heart attack."

"Will do", Pat smirked, then started moving a second later, dodging yet another spell as she approached the stairs leading up to the small balcony, her approach making Jackie laugh, the spirit inside her clearly not able to figure out what the two were planning.

"How brave you are", she mocked, watching how the taller woman started moving up the stairs, "running at me head-on. Aren't you afraid I'll just fry you with lightning, like I did with your girl?"

Giving her best to block the girl's view on Buffy, Pat just let out a low growl in reply; Jackie's smirk widened slightly, then she brought up her hand again, so focused on the demon that she didn't see how Buffy hurried to the part of the balcony where the banister had been broken, jumping up and pulling herself up on the balcony easily, giving her best to remain quiet as she started sneaking up on the girl.

To her relief, Jackie was so focused on Pat that she didn't even notice her until it was too late; a second before she wanted to throw another spell at the demon, Buffy tackled her from behind and threw her to the ground, giving the demon the chance to quickly rush up the steps and join her up there, both of them taking a firm hold on the girl's arms to keep her from doing any more spells as they jerked her to her feet.

Below them, Willow had managed to come to her feet again by now, mumbling the spell as fast as she could without taking the risk of messing something up; her concentration nearly faltered when she saw how Jackie let out another shriek, then the air all around the possessed girl to explode, the burst of magic sending both Buffy and Pat flying backwards, the Slayer falling off the balcony and ending up on the ground while the demon got flung into the wall behind her, a low grunt escaping her at the impact.

"I've had enough of you!" Jackie shouted, her eyes blazing with anger as she looked from the Slayer to the demon, to Willow's relief fully ignoring her, "I'm gonna send both of you to Hell…!"

With those words, she brought her hands up again, her eyes darkening to a deep black as she started muttering a spell; before she could even get halfway done with it though, Willow said the last word of her chant, the darkness vanishing from Jackie's eyes within the split of a second as the redhead's magic took effect.

* * *

The moment the magic started working on the girl, both Buffy and Pat forgot about the pain which had been inflicted on them not even a minute ago; they both came to their feet without even fully realizing what they were doing, staring with wide eyes as they watched how Jackie's head got thrown back into her neck and her mouth opened impossibly wide, brightly glowing, white light bursting from her mouth and eyes moments later.

"Jesus Christ", Buffy brought out, stopping at the bottom of the stairs, not sure if she should go up there or not; up on the balcony, Pat looked just as insecure, the decision taking from her a second later though when the light suddenly started to form the vague outline of a person, then stopped emerging from the girl and her legs gave in beneath her, her eyes rolling back into her head as she fainted.

Once again, the demon reacted without thinking, shooting forward and catching the now unconscious girl before she hit the ground; next to her, the bright light kept wavering and moving, as if it was trying to form the shape of a man, but didn't quite succeed.

"Willow!" Buffy nearly snapped as she finally started rushing up the stairs, "make him solid! Now!"

Nodding, the redhead gave her best to ignore how draining the exorcism spell had been; now that she had performed it, she knew why it had been the one which could be done the quickest – it worked very fast after the last word had been said, but it also had taken a great toll on her strength. Still she brought her hand up again, briefly closing her eyes as she concentrated; momentarily, she was relieved about the facts that she had done the spell to solidify spirits once before and that, thanks to how her power had grown since then, it was fairly easy for her to perform it now, then she opened her eyes again and focused on the wavering form up on the balcony, her voice sharp and full of strength when she said "Solid", smiling slightly when immediately, the spell took effect, a strange whooshing sound filling the air as the figure of light turned into the body of a man.

"No!" he shouted, the panic she suddenly could hear in his voice making her smile slightly maliciously – and then Buffy tackled him and they both went down, the Slayer landing a painful punch moments later. Not wanting to miss out on the action, Pat quickly, but still carefully lowered Jackie on the ground, then hurried over to where the blonde was wrestling with her opponent; just when she reached them, the man regained enough of his sense to use some of his magic on the Slayer, sending her off him and to the ground with one of his energy spells, her head hitting the edge of one of the shelves which had been toppled over, hard enough to knock her out.

Satisfied, the man just had a second to look at Pat, then got kicked in the face by an enraged demon the blink of an eye later, a hoarse cry escaping him as he felt several of his teeth shatter. Groaning, he tried to come to his feet after rolling over; Pat waited until he had managed to get on his hands and knees, then landed another kick in his ribcage, hard enough that he actually was lifted off the ground for a second before he slumped back down, crying out in pain once more.

"Not so tough now, are you", the demon snarled, bending down to grab him at the back of the neck, since unfortunately, he had materialized without any clothes; with an angered grunt, his hand suddenly shot out and grabbed her wrist before she could get hold of him, his eyes darkening again as he sent a bolt of lightning up her arm, a low bang echoing through the store as the magic hit her and sent her backwards again, smoke rising from her clothes as she hit the ground.

Crying out her girlfriend's name, Willow rushed to the bottom of the stairs as well now, forgetting how drained she had been feeling when saw her partner go down; briefly, her eyes narrowed, focusing on the naked man on the ground, and seconds later, thick vines grew out of the wooden floor and wrapped around his arms and legs, making him cry out as well when they made him immobile. Ignoring him and the way he weakly struggled against the vines binding him, the witch hurried up the stairs as fast as she could and made her way to where the demon was struggling to get to her feet; to her relief, the spell hadn't done as much damage as she had feared when she had seen it hit, Pat managing to stand up once Willow had reached her and had helped her with getting up.

"You can't do this to me!" the man shouted, still struggling against the vines, "you don't have enough power to do this…!"

"Maybe I have more power than you thought", Willow gave back, making sure that her partner was fine before she focused on the man again, briefly focusing on the vines to ensure herself that they wouldn't fade away or something equally unpleasant which would set the man free again; in response, the killer glared at her with so much hate in his eyes that it sent cold shivers down her spine – before he suddenly opened his mouth wide and made some sort of strange coughing noise in the back of his throat, a bright ball of energy shooting from his mouth moments later and hitting her in the chest, sending her backwards and against Pat, the taller woman thankfully reacting fast enough to catch her and to keep them both from falling.

"I have more power than you could ever imagine, you little slut", he snapped, the vines puffing away into nothingness moments later, making the redhead realize with horror that, with his words, he merely had distracted her so he could recharge his energies, "no matter how much of that dark magic you absorbed back then, your power is nothing compared to mine!"

Still glaring at her, he came to his feet, taking a few steps closer to her; he raised his hand to perform yet another spell, and all at once, it was Willow's turn to let her instincts take over, her foot suddenly shooting up and kicking him right in the crotch with painful aim.

"Holy shit!" she heard Pat call out behind her, the demon clearly surprised by this unexpected display of physical violence her girlfriend just had given; startled herself by what she had done, Willow took a step back again while the man clutches his private parts, slowly sinking to his knees.

"Holy shit", the demon repeated behind her, briefly making her wonder if she had lost the rest of her vocabulary; apparently though, the word pool of the man had been reduced even further, since all he could let out was a low "Ugh", staring at the witch with eyes as big as saucers – before he fell over, ending up flat on his back, still clutching his mistreated parts.

Down on the ground floor, Buffy finally came back around, sitting up and groggily shaking her head; she regained her senses surprisingly quick though, looking up at the balcony, her eyes widening as well when she saw the guy on the ground and Willow and Pat just standing there, the demon looking at the witch as if she suddenly had grown an extra head.

Deciding that she could find out later what had happened, the Slayer quickly came to her feet; she pulled out the dagger she had brought along for the fight, one of the few weapons she owned which easily could be concealed, then rushed up the stairs and joined her friends there, giving Willow a questioning look, the witch nodding a moment later.

Tightening her grip on the dagger, Buffy swiftly moved closer to the killer and brought her weapon up; his eyes widened when he saw it glistening weakly in the sunlight, but all he could produce when he opened his mouth was yet another helpless croak, a sound which quickly turned into wet gurgles as Buffy brought the blade down and it embedded itself deep in his chest, stabbing him right through the heart and sending him into the darkness he had been avoiding for so long.


	22. Chapter 22

Author's Note: Huh, I only realized now that this last chapter will be quite short. Bad chapter management on my part… To make up for it, I'll start the new fic on Thursday ;) Now, enjoy! :)

* * *

The moment the killer had let out his last breath, his body started to change, deep wrinkles at first beginning to line his face and his muscles sagging, as if time now was catching up, doing to him what he had avoided for so long; then, his skin turned thin and papery, crumbling seconds later, his bones remaining on the wooden floor for another minute until they did the same, nothing than a pile of musty-smelling dust left of him.

"Well, that makes getting rid of the body quite easy", Buffy commented, still holding on tightly to her dagger, some of the dust clinging to the blade; with a look of disgust, she wiped it off, then came to her feet again and turned to look at her friends, raising an eyebrow when she saw the way Pat was still staring at her girlfriend.

"Why are you looking at Willow like that?" she demanded, frowning, making the witch realize that Buffy hadn't seen her brief usage of physical violence; for a moment, she wasn't even sure if the demon had heard her, then the taller woman shook her head slightly as if snapping herself out of some kind of trance, her voice full of surprise when she spoke up, still staring at her partner. "Did I imagine that or did you really kick that guy right in the junk?"

"I did", Willow gave back, not sure why this stunned the demon so much, "why are you so shocked by this?"

"Because I've never seen you do something like that before", Pat pointed out, "that was the last thing I was expecting you to do when he was getting in your face like that."

"I guess he didn't expect it, either", Willow giggled, "and the moment we're back home, I'm gonna wipe that shoe a thousand times. I can't believe he ended up naked after I did that spell to make him solid."

"Next time, also think up a spell to put some clothes on the ghost", Buffy smirked, making her friend giggle again while she nodded; then, a soft groan coming from behind them reminded them of the fact that Jackie was still there, the young girl slowly coming around again, groaning once more before she opened her eyes, only to let out a little squeal when she found herself surrounded by Buffy, Willow and Pat, all three of them looking down on her curiously.

"Are you okay?" Willow finally was the one to ask what they all had been thinking; after a moment she used to make sure all her limbs still were where they belonged, Jackie nodded, then slowly sat up, giving Buffy a thankful look when the blonde helped her with doing so.

"That guy was inside me", she then said, sounding so shocked that it was almost comical, "did you…?"

"We got him out", Willow reassured her, "and killed him. See that pile of dust over there? That was him."

"Willow kicked him in the junk", Pat found it necessary to add, still fascinated by this; smirking, the redhead nodded her agreement, raising an eyebrow at the surprised look Jackie was giving her, the younger girl obviously not having expected such acts from her as well.

"I'll never do that again if it's such a sensation", she thus shook her head, making Buffy giggle heartily; after a moment, Pat smirked as well, and even Jackie had a slight smile on her face, her gaze still grateful as she looked at the three women who had come to her aid, not wanting to imagine what more horrendous things might have happened if they hadn't gotten rid of the spirit within her and of the danger the man had been for all of them.

* * *

"Home, sweet home", Pat commented as she entered the apartment almost two hours after the final fight in the Magic Box; after they had defeated the killer there, they had made their way back to the Summers house with Buffy and Jackie, the girl still quite shaken up about the fact that the man's spirit had possessed her body and thus not wanting to go back to the dorm at campus immediately.

"Let's see how long we get to stay here this time", Willow now gave back, putting down her travel bag and stretching, grimacing at the dull pain that welled up in her back at the movement – even though it had been more than two hours since that lightning spell had hit her, she still felt it, and she asked herself how much longer it would take until the pain would be gone fully.

"Don't jinx it", the demon smirked, "or I'll blame you when Buffy calls within the next few days and tells us we'll have to move in with her again because of some creepy new threat."

"Sorry", Willow gave back, smiling as well, "but, hey, you've been living long enough here too by now to know that we hardly ever get long times of peace…"

"Yeah", the taller woman admitted after a moment, "not that I mind much though, it guarantees that I get to beat up creepy crawlies and what not. And you know I get cranky if I can't beat anything up for too long…"

"And we don't want that", Willow smirked, making the black haired woman nod; the two grinned at each other, then made their way into the living room where they made themselves comfortable on the couch, the witch snuggling up to her partner, smiling when immediately, she was pulled closer and into a gentle embrace.

For the moment, she ignored the knowledge that sooner or later, the peace they had brought back to Sunnydale would end again as she allowed herself to relax, happy and content about the fact that once more, they had won against yet another opponent; it had been harder than they had first thought when it had been revealed that this time, they'd be after a serial killer, but as always so far, they still had won in the end, once again making the town a little bit safer for all who lived there and saving God knew how many lives, that alone being worth all the pain and fear they had gone through before this had been over.

End.


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